Designer Babies Topic of Annual Weiss Lecture

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Ronald M. Green, faculty director of the Ethics Institute and professor of religion at Dartmouth College, will deliver the annual Weiss Lecture on Medicine and Medical Ethics at Williams College.

The talk, "Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Code," will take place on Tuesday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Griffin Hall 3.

Green envisions a future in which prospective parents engage in "cosmetico-genomics" — that is, they can genetically select embryos to ensure their children will exhibit particular traits.

Previously, genetic selection has helped eliminate the passage of various hereditary diseases; however, technology is becoming so precise that geneticists can manipulate any physical feature from eye shape to skin tone.

Despite contemporary fears and concerns, Green believes using genetic selection to control evolution will benefit the human race.


Green is the founding director of the Office of Genome Ethics at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health and has served on NIH's Human Embryo Research Panel and the bioethics committee of the March of Dimes.

He has held leadership positions in numerous religious associations, including serving as president of the Society of Christian Ethics and secretary of the Academy of Religion, the country's largest organization of religious studies educators.

The author of seven books and nearly 150 scholarly articles, he studies topics in genetic ethics, biomedical ethics, and issues of justice in health care allocation.

Green has been a member of the religion department at Dartmouth since 1969, and received the Dartmouth Distinguished Teaching Award in 1980. A graduate of Brown University, he received his doctorate in religious ethics from Harvard University in 1973.
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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building. 

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu. 

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building. 

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.  

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns. 

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot. 

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use. 

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