ions and an incncreased risk of ininfections oror a lower a ability toto fight thehem may occuc. tell your r doctor if f you he an infectition or sympmptom, had a vaccccine, or plplan t. there's nonothing likeke clearer r skin and betttter movemenent-and that meansns everythining! ask your d doctor ababout skyi todaday. learn how abbvie could help you save. (upbeat music) good morning and welcome to 'mosaic'. on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco. where the human body and human life are concerned, the last 30 to 40 years has been a time of incredible progress. breakthroughs in the

laboratory, pioneering techniques in the surgical theater. great advances in pharmacology and interventions in the clinical setting. the lehman, nine scientists like me can scarcely keep up with the news . you read we have sequenced the genome, we have crisper technology, i don't know what that means. and i read yesterday about uterine transplants. people like me say things like, we have medical miracles. but in fact, these are not miracles, they are techniques. they are applications of new knowledge. trials and experiments. if you have a technique you are going to have some cost and you're going to have consequences and there will be benefits as well. i want to understand those things and i have invited a guest who can tell us about them. we talked with jennifer, and medical professional. she is the founder of a local institution that has become an internationally known center

for bioethics. thank you for joining us and we will talk with jennifer about bioethics.

welcome to 'mosaic'. our guest today is jennifer.

jennifer, your face may be familiar . i read your frequently interviewed on television and radio. abc, cbs, pbs, and pr. you are a medical professional by training. now you are the president of the center for the study of bioethics which is based in pleasant hill, california. a resident of the east bay. are you a local girl ? how did you get to california? >> i have been here since high school and i consider myself a local girl. i married a third-generation san franciscan. i am a nurse by training. and i was a pediatric critical care nurse . my first job in critical care nursing was in san francisco at you see san francisco. i did practice nursing for almost 20 years before founding the center for bioethics and culture. which is an east bay. >> 20 years ago you founded center for bioethics and

culture. >> 20 years. time flies . >> what caused you to take that step? >> i love medicine and science and technology and working in pediatric critical care nursing at meijer university hospitals we were on the cutting edge of a new technology and treatment and therapy. but i was also interested in the ethics of all of the advancements. not just because we can do something does not always mean we should. i went back to graduate school and studied bioethics. >> i noticed you had an advanced degree in masters . it was part of my graduate work that founded the center i now run. >> the center is an educational nonprofit 501(c)(3) in california. i mentioned it is internationally known and you testified at the u.n. and you have spoken in foreign countries and people are

interested in the knowledge you have. >> these issues are not just unique to the united states because we have sick people around the world of people interfacing with the medical profession. i get around. >> this is a catholic show and you are not a catholic, i understand. >> correct. >> may i ask ? >> i am lutheran and i worked closely with many of my good catholic friends on areas where we agree. >> wonderful . >> tell us with the center for bioethics does , the major work it does. >> we are heavily involved in an area where we put it under the heading of making life. you mentioned crisper and gene editing and cloning. all the new novel ways that biotechnology allows us to make human life. you mentioned in your opening, uterine transplants and artificial wombs. we are heavily involved in that space and we write and

we do media and we produced documentary films. all to help educate people in one of our important elements as we want the public to be involved in these conversations. we all have a voice and we all have something at stake. >> how do you reach out? do you reach out to younger people do you have seminars , do have broadcast, you make movies. where are they released? >> all of our films are available on amazon. people who want to go to the center's website can find our films and watch them on amazon. we have a podcast, venus rising where we talk about things related to women's reproductive health. i am interested as a woman in women's reproductive health and as a nurse. yes, we reach out to young people so we are involved in social media which is where young people spend their time on twitter and facebook. all the time just disseminating information and educating people. we have a weekly email newsletter that

tries to make these more science and technological issues more accessible to lay people who don't have degrees in science or medicine. >> i am interested in these things . i would like to know more i noticed on your website you have information sheets, fact sheet you call them i think. three things you should know about ex, why, z. >> our filmmaking has been -- some films have been on the issue of egg donation. young women on university campuses to see ads to donate eggs to help someone. we have a fact sheet about three things you should know about egg donation which break down the risks and some of the realities of making that decision. we want people to be informed when they make decisions. we have one on surrogacy. involved in the

global debates around commercial surrogacy. we have three things you should know about surrogacy. >> these are available on your website? >> yes . pdfs free for information. >> i mentioned in my opening that these are techniques and techniques always have benefits perhaps but they have costs and consequences. he tried to inform people about both sides. >> we do. we are not anti-technology. i took a car to come here today and was answering emails on my smart phone. but we also know that even with a car there is risk. we want people to be informed . there is risk to young women's health the they make the decision to sell or donate eggs or be a surrogate. we want people to have the information so they can make an informed decision. >> i have no idea of the extent of the egg donation

industry. how many young women are involved? >> we don't track. that is one of the realities of this practice in the world. it is a multi-, multibillion dollar a year industry. the area of fertility medicine. it is new. we don't really have good figures and good data and numbers and tracking of how many people are doing this. >> it is known that there are consequences or difficulties or risks involved for the person donating the eggs . >> these are healthy young women were taking medicine . usually you take medicine because you are sick and you weigh the risk and if it. i am sick because i will take this medicine that has risks and side effects but i need to get well. there are risks to healthy women who take medicine. >> we will talk about this later . we will take a brief break but we will come back with another section with jennifer lahi.

welcome back. we are talking to jennifer lahi, the founder and president of the center for bioethics and culture in pleasant hill. we are talking about risks of modern, brand-new interventions and techniques. one which you studied is egg donation. another is surrogacy. i think the theme i hear is that there are risks for the women involved and you have education to offer us about these things. >> i encourage anybody who is listening to do watch our films. they are great documentary films where we actually talk with young women who have done this. and walked through their experiences and what went wrong.

>> these are readily available on your website. we will run a slide later that runs your domain name and all that. all these resources we are talking about whether video or print or other are on your website. >> absolutely. if you think of the young, healthy egg donors. my daughters went to uc berkeley. >> the student newspaper in new york , on the subway , papered with these. >> they will see these ads and think i can help somebody and that money would help me a lot. >> help pay my college tuition. >> what happens, not always, they take these powerful fertility drugs and undergo a surgical procedure to harvest a bunch of eggs that will be sold. there is serious short and long-term consequences to doing that. similarly in the case of surrogacy most people don't realize a surrogate pregnancy has above and beyond

the natural risks of a spontaneous pregnancy and in california a few weeks ago, last month we had a surrogate mother in san diego who died. it comes with risks. in our films we tell the story of women who saw these advertisements and thought this was a great way to help somebody and they were sympathetic to somebody who could not have children. and they thought the financial incentive would be beneficial. >> let me ask this. what is the great interest in surrogacy? it seems to me , aren't their adoptable children that are already born and need homes ? >> the argument i hear often for people who are interested in advancing surrogacy , will say this allows people to have a genetic child, biologically related child. when you adopt, you are not biologically related to the child. in the case of the surrogate, she

might be carrying your own genetic child for you and your wife or you and your husband. i think that is sort of unfortunate . we know many children, currently in san francisco in the foster care system that could benefit from a home. >> we hear new stories about these even if you are not a professional in the field and you learned there is contract difficulties and legal difficulties that have not been solved . >> there are economic disparities. you will see a people magazine cover with celebrities that are having a baby through surrogacy but you don't see a similar magazine that shows a celebrity being a surrogate for a low income or impoverished woman. the cuts around the economic and that is how i made able to build broad coalitions in my work and bring together many different voices to help educate people on all angles of the story. >> i know you have a large cohort of medical professionals

and intellectuals and we will talk about that in detail later. let me ask you this. your film called, exploitation, is a big hit. it has been watched millions of times. >> i wish i could keep track. the problem is one somebody buys that you don't know if they showed it to 500 people are watched by themselves at home. it has been sold in over 30 countries and translated into four or five languages. it one night boss -- best documentary in the film festival. it is an important film that keeps being watched and shown and purchased from people all around the world. >> it is probably an important tool for young women . the egg donation harvesters.

>> i am on university campuses screening the film and young women will say thank you for your work. i get these ads on my facebook page and i see them in the campus newspaper's. they are grateful for the information. >> let me ask you about , these educational tools for the laymen, the common person, easily available and readily accessible . and pretty nifty. i have looked at some of these myself but you have an intellectual side to your institute and this is called the paul ramsey -- >> institute. >> you are the center for bioethics and culture and you also have the paul ramsey institute. as i understand it is an institute studying bioethics and named for paul ramsey. >> i had to read a lot of paul

ramsey's writings when i was in graduate school. he had a position at princeton in the ethics department and he was on the forefront of looking at the shift for medical ethics to bioethics and so we have this institute which is a two-year fellowship program where young men and women from all around the world are applying for a coveted spot and we are only able to accept a few. one of our first paul ramsey fellows was paul who wrote the book, when breath becomes aaron he was a neurosurgeon at stanford when he was diagnosed with stage iv lung cancer. this is an inside of some of the caliber of people where they study with many professors. >> that is great to know. we will take a brief break and we

will talk about one final segment with jennifer lahi.

it's just so inspiring to do research that impacts human lives stand up to cancer has been a critical partner in advancing research for cancer. so please help us fight in this battle against cancer. welcome back. i am with jennifer lahi. and you mentioned, i don't know how to say his name . that is a book i read that was a best seller and he was a neurosurgeon at stanford. young man and got stage iv cancer suddenly and during his last few months of life got treatments which were unsuccessful and wrote a wonderful book. best selling

book and everyone read it a couple years ago. how is he associated with your work? >> he was one of the first paul institute. they run a two-year fellowship where many young men and women from many disciplines, will apply and paul was in the first group when we launch the paul ramsey institute it was during his two-year time with us that he was diagnosed with stage iv lung cancer. and was writing, when breath becomes air. >> a wonderful book. >> you have top notch academics and medical professionals and so on who apply for a limited number of spots. they are there for a year or two years . >> two years . >> is there a physical location? >> we have the meetings in the san francisco bay area. our fellows are either students

and md programs, phd programs or law programs and they come to san francisco for a long weekend and we have scheduled readings and they think with scholars and over a period of two years we bring them to the bay area. >> the training is in bioethics, which some have not encountered before. >> same with law students who don't understand the legality of some of these issues. gene editing and the law will have to weigh in if we can do this or not do this. there is phd students who go on to hopefully teach and universities and they will teach students . that is part of their formation and they love it because it is multidisciplinary and cross discipline so law students are benefiting from hearing medical students and ph these students and good lively

discussions. serious thinking. >> they will take these back to their professionals and distribute it . >> we are creating a network so we have a strong alumni program and every year we have the paul ramsey dinner and all the alumni are invited to come to that event. we are creating a network of like-minded individuals in different areas of professional work. >> i looked on your website and you are having your annual dinner in honor of the paul ramsey award. that is april 4th. >> april 4th and diablo, california. every year we recognize one person for their exemplary work in the field of bioethics and this year the award is going to the professor , a law professor at george mason university. she will be on hand to receive the prize.

all of our fellows will be there. paul ramsey institute scholars will be there. it is a gala event. a great way for people to come and learn . to get to meet some really cool young men and women that will change the world. >> it is a dinner and the public is invited. >> yes. >> they can find your website and register and get a table and a ticket. april 4th , diablo valley country club. we would like to run a slide briefly. it will show how you can get in touch. this is your website. i put below the some colleagues are counterparts. what is that? >> national catholic bioethics center, which i believe is in philadelphia. >> i thought washington. >> maybe they moved . >> it is a center like yours on the other coast. catholic in

description, catholic in teaching but doing the same kind of work. that is wonderful. i want to encourage people to support your work and to go to the dinner if that makes sense and i would like you to tell us , how much is there to learn? should we go to your website every day. >> i don't know about that but i think getting on the email mailing list is good. we send out one newsletter a week and it is written for laypeople. if anybody thinks i'm not a doctor or scientist, i cannot understand this. it was people know was going on. we have a free pdf online . >> if you are a parish and director of religious

education or events manager or if you want to set up -- can you send a speaker. >> you can get someone to give a topic talk. they can come visit us in our office if they want to see us in pleasant hill. >> do you have any connection with the local catholic school district? >> i have spoken of several catholic schools in the bay area, high schools and beyond. i have spoken to -- at the catholic bishops conference in dallas at the invitation of the national bioethics wants. >> you are acquainted with the archbishop. thank you for joining us and sharing a little bit. i want people to go to

your website and find out what they need to do and get on your mailing list and perhaps attend this wonderful dinner and hero talk from helen from george mason university. thank you for joining us on 'mosaic' and we will see you next time.

from cbs news bay area, this is the morning edition. >> the month-long writer strike could be closer to a resolution. why there is cause for optimism this morning in the entertainment industry. oakland business owners and city leaders continue to be at odds in efforts to fight crime. some say they are ready to stage a boycott if more is not done. >> i consider it a state of emergency. >> crimes