UNESCO Courier articles from September 1994

UNESCO Courier archives from September 1994

Noelle Lenoir Talks to Bahgat Elnadi and Adel Rifaat
September 1, 1994... The first woman member of France's Constitutional Council, Noelle Lenoir has been president of UNESCO'S International Bioethics Committee since it was established in September 1993. She also chairs the group of advisors on the ethics of...

Scientific Knowledge and Human Dignity
September 1, 1994... If misused, our growing knowledge of human genetics could have disastrous consequences. Should there be any restrictions on research and above all on the application of its results? Molecular biology has invaded all or very nearly all areas of...

The Prospects for Gene Therapy
September 1, 1994... There are an estimated 100,000 genes in the human body. By replacing defective genes with healthy ones, it will be possible to treat many hereditary diseases such as haemophilia, cystic fibrosis and, eventually, some forms of muscular dystrophy...

Prenatal Diagnosis: Foretelling the Quality of Life
September 1, 1994... Screening for most genetic risks will eventually be possible through analysis of chromosomal aberrations. But social or religious factors may impede the applications of scientific progress. DNA technology has revolutionized the laboratory...

Genetics in the Market-Place
September 1, 1994... The prospect of shopping for "spare part" organs and tissue confronts modern societies with acute ethical dilemmas There have always been but few certainties in the world, and the most fundamental of them--life and death--are now being questioned...

UNESCO and Bioethics
September 1, 1994... Through ethical reflection, humanity can now keep pace with the challenges of science instead of realizing too late when things have gone wrong Scientific research on the human genome, and especially on gene therapy and the diagnosis of genetic...

What Happened to Development?
September 1, 1994... "We can help a tree to grow by tending its roots, not by pulling on its branches" THE cause of the serious problems confronting so many of the countries of Eastern Europe today is not freedom, but rather the burden of oppression which they had to...

The Tower of London: 'A Very Great and Most Strong Tower.'
September 1, 1994... THE Tower of London is the most popular historic site in the British Isles, welcoming two and a half million visitors a year. The biggest drawing card is the Jewel House, where the Crown Jewels are displayed in all their panoply. In March 1994, a...

Melina's Last Battle
September 1, 1994... On 6 March Melina Mercouri, known to her fellow-Greeks as "the light of Attica", passed away after a long struggle against cancer, the last of her many battles THE unforgettable Medea who bestrode the stage in Salonika, the headstrong Ilya who...

Of Men and Mountains
September 1, 1994... THE world's great mountain ranges such as the Andes, the Alps, the Himalayas and the highlands of Madagascar and Ethiopia are not as solid as they look. Back in 1973, a report produced by UNESCO'S Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) acknowledged...

Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warriors
September 1, 1994... THE five million-odd members of the Greenpeace movement have one thing in common--they make a nuisance of themselves. Just mention in their presence words like nuclear testing or toxic waste or the slaughter of whales and they are up in arms....

Mercator: Cartographer of Genius
September 1, 1994... On 4 December 1994, UNESCO will be associated with the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of the Flemish geographer Gerhard Mercator, founder of modern mathematical geography and inventor of the plane map projection of the earth...

Seoul at Age 600: A City Built to Face in the Right Direction
September 1, 1994... Capital of the Republic of Korea since 1945, Seoul stands on the Han river 60 km from its estuary with the Yellow Sea. This city whose story can be traced back to prehistoric times became the prestigious capital of the Yi dynasty 600 years ago....

Human Development: A Question of Security
September 1, 1994... "We need another profound transition in thinking--from nuclear security to human security". In these terms the Human Development Report 1994, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), proposes a new approach to world affairs in...

The Maroons, Musicians of Freedom
September 1, 1994... Right from the beginning of the slave trade, black people in almost every part of the New World rose up against slavery and, whenever they could, escaped from the slave ships or from mines and plantations. They took refuge in the impenetrable...

Elvis the African
September 1, 1994... For eleven months a year, Elvis Johnson-Idan lives in London with his wife Elizabeth and their three children. Each December, however, be returns to the village of Jukwaa, his birthplace in Ghana, where he reigns supreme. In the previous issue...