Table Of ContentEXPERIENTIA SUPPLEMENTUM 17
The Challenge of Life
Biomedical Progress and Human Values
Roche Anniversary Symposium
Chairman: The Lord Todd, F.R. S.
Basel, Switzerland,
31 August to 3 September 1971
Editors: Robert M. Kunz and Hans Fehr
1972 Springer Basel AG
Editorial Committee: Renée Baumgartner
Helga Gerster
Colette Kapp-Schwoerer
Walter K. Lindenmann
Hans R. Roth
Photographers: Urs Schachenmann
Hans Sigg
© Springer Basel AG 1972
Originally published by Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel and Stuttgart in 1972
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1972
ISBN 978-3-0348-5866-3 ISBN 978-3-0348-5864-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-0348-5864-9
F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. Ltd, Basel, Switzerland
The Challenge of Life
Roche Anniversary Symposium
Chairman: The Lord TODD
Moderators: PHILIP HANDLER, RENE KONIG and JAN W ALDENSTROM
7
Preface
In the autumn of 1971 F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. Ltd in Basel celebrated
their 75th anniversary. The company was one of the first in the chemical industry
to concentrate from the beginning on pharmaceuticals. Step by step new activi
ties were taken up, but all within the frontiers of biology.
During the 75 years of Roche the research division has become by far the
largest department in the company, with basic research assuming an increasingly
important part in it. For this reason Roche cannot but feel a share of res ponsi
bility towards the many problems raised by biomedical progress. Hence, the idea
of celebrating the anniversary along conventional lines could not be seriously
entertained. The occasion was to show Roche at work. A special kind of work
certainly, breaking away from the daily routine into the sphere offree communi
cation with thinking people outside the purview of the company's usual tasks.
Thus was born the idea of a multidisciplinary symposium with a subject
which would throw open to discussion the scientific endeavours of the company
in their relation to society-the human problems of biomedical progress. The
Symposium was intended to provide a forum of encounter between preeminent
representatives of various cultures and fields of knowledge. The dialogue prom
ised to point the way to fresh insights and new methodology. Besides this,
Roche hoped to gain guidelines for future research. The anniversary came at a
time of striking changes in established structures and functions. Particularly in
the field of health, we are faced with tasks of unprecedented import.
As the idea took shape, the initiators gradually withdrew into the role of
hosts. Roche deliberately limited its contribution to a general outline of the
scope of the Symposium. The choice of the individual topics for discussion and
the selection of discussion leaders and speakers were left to the active partici
pants, who were all invited to a preparatory meeting near Geneva in November
1970, almost a year before the projected event.
The Geneva presymposium will remain alive in the memory of all partici
pants. The close personal contact which soon developed paved the way for a
free and fruitful exchange of views. Three main lines of thought and three
discussion groups emerged spontaneously to form the three sessions of the
principal meeting. The final programme kept closely to the concept worked out
at the presymposium.
8 The Challenge of Life
The manuscripts prepared by the authors for presentation in Basel were
distributed to all active participants in good time. They therefore had the
opportunity to become familiar with the way of thinking and particular concern
of their partners in the coming discussion. For the guests and interested members
of the Roche organization these papers were available in the form of a preprint.
The stage was thus set for a constructive dialogue.
Yet the Symposium was an experiment. The general theme was wide, and
the individual topics overlapped. This overlapping was intentional. It permitted
to analyse the complex matter from various angles and to consider the different
points of view in a final synopsis. Naturally this endeavour could not be expected
to provide generally valid directives for disentangling the problems of our day.
The Symposium in fact revealed once again the difficulties of interdisciplinary
communication, and many contradictions remained. But these very difficulties
in understanding having been brought into the open, the need and the desire
to intensify cooperation across all boundaries have increasingly been felt by each
participant. In the above sense the Anniversary Symposium was a beginning.
All who took an active part contributed to the success of the meeting.
Particular recognition is due to the Chairman, Lord Todd, and to the Modera
tors, Professor Philip Handler, Professor Rene Konig and Professor Jan
Waldenstrom. The intensive preparatory work carried out by the speakers
furnished the basis for a creative encounter. The cooperative spirit of all these
personalities not only facilitated the task of the organizers; without it the whole
experiment would not have been possible. This spirit gives us confidence for
future experiments.
A fish-eye view of the conference hall during the Symposium.
9
Contents
FIRST PART: PROCEEDINGS
15 Contributors to the Symposium
Opening Session
20 ADOLF WALTER JANN: Welcoming address
23 ALFRED PLETSCHER: Roche and the human problems of biomedical
progress
29 Lord TODD: Introduction to the Symposium - an outline of its
scope and limitations
Session I: Biomedical Frontiers
34 Introduction: PmLIP HANDLER, Moderator
Presentation of topics*
36 SALVADOR E. LURIA: Ethical aspects of the new perspectives In
biomedical research
39 JOSHUA LEDERBERG: Biomedical frontiers: genetics
42 NIELS K. JERNE: Newer knowledge ofimmunobiology and its appli-
cations
44 SEYMOUR S. KETY: Progress in neurobiology and its implications
for society
47 Discussion
... In these talks the authors review in condensed form their papers appearing in full in the
Second Part of this volume. The papers served as a working basis and were circulated before
the Symposium.
10 The Challenge of Life
Session II: Impact of Biomedical Progress on Society and the Individual
80 Introduction: Rmm KONIG, Moderator
Presentation of topics*
82 ALFRED SAUVY: Changements quantitatifs et qualitatifs des popula-
tions humaines, sous l'influence des progres biomedicaux ou
biomedico-sociaux
85 PIERRE PICHOT: Disponibilite des drogues psychotropes et attitudes
de la societe envers les troubles du comportement
89 MARGARET MEAD: Changing life patterns and the consciousness of
the individual
93 JORGEN MOLTMANN: Der EinfluB von Mensch und Gesellschaft auf
den biomedizinischen Fortschritt
96 AVRAM GOLDSTEIN: Comments on the drug abuse problem
99 Discussion
Session III: 'The Right to Health'
118 Introduction : JAN W ALDENSTROM, Moderator
Presentation of topics*
119 JEANNE HERSCH: Nouveaux pouvoirs de l'homme, sens de sa vie et
de sa sante
123 BERNARD BARBER: Experimenting with humans: problems and proc-
esses of social control in the biomedical research community
126 ARNOLD BURGEN: Shifting targets for our magic bullets
129 CHARLES A. BERRY: Health as the physician views it, and the use of
space technology to achieve and maintain it
132 Discussion
Presentation of topics*
153 KENNETH J. ARROW: Problems of resource allocation in United
States medical care
157 AXEL STR0M: The problem of relieving the physician of unnecessary
burdens
159 Lord ZUCKERMAN: The doctor's dilemma
164 Discussion
• See page 9.
Contents 11
Concluding Session: A Synopsis
184 Introduction: The Lord TODD
Speakers: SALVADOR E. LURIA
Lord ROSENHEIM
FRANZ BOCKLE
TALCOTT PARSONS
194 Discussion
215 Concluding remarks by Lord TODD
219 ADOLF WALTER JANN: Farewell address
SECOND PART:
PAPERS AND CURRICULA OF THE ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS
Papers
224 SALVADOR E. LURIA: Ethical aspects of the new perspectives in
biomedical research
231 JOSHUA LEDERBERG: Biomedical frontiers: genetics
246 NIELS K. JERNE: Newer knowledge ofimmunobiology and its appli-
cations
254 SEYMOUR S. KETY: Progress in neurobiology and its implications for
society
266 ALFRED SAVVY: Changements quantitatifs et qualitatifs des popula-
tions humaines, sous l'influence des progres biomedicaux ou
biomedico-sociaux
286 PIERRE PICHOT: Disponibilite des drogues psychotropes et attitudes
de la societe envers les troubles du comportement
304 MARGARET MEAD: Changing life patterns and the consciousness of
the individual
316 JDRGEN MOLTMANN: Der EinfluB von Mensch und Gesellschaft auf
den biomedizinischen Fortschritt
335 AVRAM GOLDSTEIN: Comments on the drug abuse problem
345 JEANNE HERSCH: Nouveaux pouvoirs de l'homme, sens de sa vie et
de sa sante
