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| December 22, 2008 |
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by Marcy Darnovsky, Science Progress
In the wake of the Bush administration’s policies, we will have the political space to craft a pro-research stand that simultaneously highlights the need for consistent and enforceable regulation, for hope without hype, and for developing human biotechnologies according to principles of social justice and human rights. |
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by Richard Hayes, The Cutting Edge News
The rapid development of powerful new human biotechnologies raises precisely the sort of questions that intergovernmental institutions are positioned to address. The encouraging news is that many have already begun taking steps to address these biotechnologies, and broad areas of at least implicit agreement are evident. |
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by Marcy Darnovsky
The economic crisis has created a surge in the number of women seeking cash by providing eggs or carrying surrogate pregnancies for other people. |
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by Osagie Obasogie
What do you give the people on your holiday shopping list who have everything? Themselves! |
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The Latest from Biopolitical Times
by Jesse Reynolds
In what may just be a match made in heaven, two controversial cloning-based stem cell research companies have formed a joint venture.
by Marcy Darnovsky
Obligatory puns notwithstanding, cloning - of humans, animals, and embryos for stem cells - is no laughing matter.
by Pete Shanks
Nature has published a Commentary that advocates the use of "cognitive-enhancing drugs." |
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by Jesse Reynolds
The cover story of last week's New York Times Sunday Magazine addresses the issue of the commercialization of assisted reproduction in a manner that is simultaneously bluntly honest and painfully naive.
by Marcy Darnovsky
There is a lot of magical thinking going on about SCNT, but most of it has originated with advocates of cloning-based stem cell research who have irresponsibly hyped SCNT as an imminent miracle cure.
by Pete Shanks
North Carolina has set up a toll-free number for survivors of the state's eugenic program. |
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by Osagie K. Obasogie
A ruling last week out of the European Court of Human Rights suggests that the US might be engaging in a human rights violation by collecting and retaining DNA profiles from arrestees never convicted of a crime.
by Marcy Darnovsky
Thousands of adverse reactions have been reported to the FDA. But neither the agency nor Lupron's manufacturer have indicated any interest in investigating.
by Jesse Reynolds
The California stem cell research agency indicates that it will continue its recent push for women's eggs for cloning-based stem cell research, perhaps paying if necessary.
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For readers who subscribe to CGS's Weekly Views & News, please note that the next issue will be published the week of January 5. For those who would like to keep on top of the latest developments in biopolitics and human biotechnologies on a weekly basis, subscribe here.
Happy holidays from the Center for Genetics and Society, and best wishes for a new and exciting year! |
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Other News
by Bernadette Tansey, San Francisco Chronicle
What is potential economic impact in California of the lifting of the restrictions on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research?
by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post
Immigration and civil liberties groups condemned a new U.S. government policy to collect DNA samples from all noncitizens detained by authorities and all people arrested for federal crimes.
by Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times
The board of California's stem cell agency has voted to start paying a salary of $150,000 for half-time work to Chairman Robert Klein, who has served unpaid since the institute began four years ago. |
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by Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal
Massive inequality, we have learned, isn't the best way to run an economy after all. Some people haven't received the memo. Take Alex Kuczynski, author of the New York Times Magazine cover story, which tells how she went about hiring another woman to bear her child.
by Alison Motluk Celeste Biever, New Scientist
Drugs designed to induce ovulation seem to have increased the risk of uterine cancer in a group of women who were treated with them over 30 years ago. The finding emphasizes the need to monitor more women who are treated with them.
by Melinda Beck, Wall Street Journal
Here's another sign of the tough economic times: Some clinics are reporting a surge in the number of women applying to donate eggs or serve as surrogate mothers for infertile couples. |
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by Bernadette Tansey, San Francisco Chronicle
Brain research is accelerating, and a new era of "cognitive enhancement" - the use of brain-stimulating drugs and devices by healthy people - is approaching.
by Terri Somers, Union Tribune
With the state facing a possible $28 billion deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has expressed “deep concern” about the state stem cell institute's plans to set the salaries for the chairman and vice chairman of its board, two positions for which no one has accepted pay in three years.
by Rick Weiss, Center for American Progress
The incoming Obama administration will soon have the opportunity to reassert U.S. scientific leadership in two of the most exciting and promising fields of biomedical research - embryonic stem cell science and regenerative medicine.
McClatchy Newspapers
The debate over embryonic stem cell research centres on the sanctity of life. But the couples who create the leftover embryos would rather they be destroyed in the course of scientific research than be given a chance at becoming babies. |
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