AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Mission

UPDATE: The Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program is now a part of the Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program. For more information about the Program's mission go to: http://srhrl.aaas.org/about/mission/

Based within AAAS Science & Policy Programs, the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program (SFRL) is committed to upholding high ethical standards for science and engineering and to examining the impediments to and opportunities for achieving those standards; to improving understanding of the relationship between the law and science; to monitoring ethical, legal, and social issues related to science and technology and bringing them to the attention of scientists, engineers, policy makers, and the public; to recognizing the actions of persons whose behavior has fostered scientific freedom and responsibility; and to facilitating the exchange of ideas and information related to the Program's mission among all interested parties.

In support of these objectives, the Program has addressed the following issues:

• ethical, legal and policy implications of genetic research and its applications
• use of animals in research and education
• research integrity and misconduct in science
• use of scientific and technical information in the courts
• ethical and policy implications of human stem cell research
• electronic publishing and intellectual property
• ethical and legal aspects of conducting human subject research on the Internet
• implications of neuroscience for the law
• research needed to improve the U.S. voting system

The AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility and the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists (a joint committee between the AAAS and the American Bar Association's Science and Technology Law Section) work closely with staff to achieve the Program's objectives. In addition, the Program publishes the quarterly newsletter, Professional Ethics Report.