Dear Colleagues and Friends,

If you think the summer lull is here at the CBC, let me tell you just how busy it is. The emails below are just a highlight of our impact and reach!

Germany

I work for German television 3sat, a public broadcasting station with cultural topics. Something like Discovery channel. We are filming for a documentary on reproductive medicine and will be in San Francisco next wednesday through Sunday, and after that a few more days in Los Angeles.

What is still missing in our report is the perspective of a donor conceived person. Somebody who could tell us how it feels not to know about the biological father or mother.

Looking at your CBC page and knowing that you produced documentaries yourself on the topic, maybe you could give us an interview how you judge the situation and also support us get in contact with a donor conceived person, who’d be willing to tell us their story.

United Kingdom

I am writing from Darlow Smithson. We make specialist factual programmes for UK and American broadcasters, including Richard Hammond’s Engineering Connections for the BBC and National Geographic, 9/11: The Falling Man, and Stephen Hawking’s Universe for Discovery and Channel 4, and the award-winning films 127 Hours and Touching The Void.

We are producing a 90-minute science special – commissioned by Smithsonian Channel and UK’s Channel 4, and backed by the Wellcome Trust – about technology in medicine. The show examines how the human body works and celebrates technology designed to replace or repair it. By bringing some of these mechanical, bio-medical and information technologies together, we are creating a whole, functioning artificial ‘body’. During the build, we are learning just how complex the human body is, and the challenges faced by scientists, engineers and doctors.

The documentary will be presented by Dr. Bertolt Meyer, an articulate and engaging young psychologist who has used lower-arm prosthesis since he was 3 months old. With him, we are examining ethical issues – whether mankind could and should engineer nature, and potential implications for future generations.

I would be really interested to speak to you about your work, and whether you’d be interested in potentially contributing to the program. Is there a good time I could call you?

Israel

I’m writing regarding your film Eggsploitation.

I’m a director working on a film for Israeli television about egg “donations” from Eastern Europe for Israeli women.

While shooting egg donors in Georgia & Kazakhstan, we discovered that they have no idea of the risks they are taking.

When we saw the trailer of your film we were shocked – we knew that the situation is bad but your film very powerfully depicts this sad situation.

I am writing to you because I would like to know if it would be possible to get your permission to combine some (short) parts of your film in my film. Of course, giving you full credit.

Some of the experts in your film say things that are extremely important and I am finding it impossible to locate local experts that have the courage to say these things in Israel.

I thank you for any assistance you can give me.

The German taping has been done, the UK taping will take place next month (they will either fly me to Boston or bring their crew to SF), and the copy of Eggsploitation is being fed-exed to Israel this morning.

If you wonder what your support helps us do, these are just a few of the ways you are helping us have an impact!

Thank you,

Jennifer

Your gift will increase our reach and impact!

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.