CGS encourages responsible uses and effecitve governance of human genetic and assisted reproductive technologies

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7 Questionable Claims in Reporting on Gene Editing Human Embryos

By Katie Hasson | 09.06.2017
Biopolitical Times

On July 26, news broke that scientists led by Shoukrat Mitalipov used CRISPR to perform gene editing on human embryos—a first in the United States. Scientists in China had previously edited human embryos, but the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) researchers edited more embryos with greater accuracy than previous attempts.

Last week, prominent researchers raised doubts about the findings of this study. But this developing scientific controversy raises additional questions about the initial reporting of this research. The...

Media Coverage

"Scattered Seeds" makes the case for disclosure of sperm donors

By Gina Maranto, Guest Contributor | 08.30.2017
Biopolitical Times
Scattered Seeds: In Search of Family and Identity in the Sperm Donor Generation, by Jacqueline Mroz, 253 pp. Seal Press, 2017. In 1681, the English poet John Dryden began his epic poem “Absalom and Achitophel,” a political satire, with an account of a monarch who...
Arts & Culture

Study finds new way genome privacy can be breached

By Bradley J. Fikes, San Diego Union Tribune | 09.04.2017

Aggregated News

Anonymized genomes can be traced back to the people they came from by linking the data to identifiable individual traits, ...

Bioethics

We’re Failing Our Test Run for the Age of CRISPR

By David M. Perry, The Nation | 08.29.2017

Aggregated News

We’re on the cusp of being able to genetically shape our offspring, but without accurately informing would-be parents, genetic diversity

...
Eugenics

Biopolitical Times
The cover of Donna Dickenson's "Property in the Body" second edition featuring an image of a woman with her eyes closed superimposed on an image of a gel electrophoresis scan.

“The lady vanishes”: How women become obscured in repro-genetics

By Gina Moranto, Guest Contributor | 09.18.2017

Property in the Body: Feminist Perspectives, Second Edition, by Donna Dickenson, 202 pp.. Cambridge Bioethics and Law. Cambridge University...

Society
Portrait of Rudy Rupak

How the Planet Hospital Case Offers a Nuanced Glimpse into Transnational Surrogacy

By Kayla Tolentino | 09.06.2017

In early August, the founder of California surrogacy agency Planet Hospital, Rudy Rupak, was sentenced to serve two years in...

Reproductive Justice, Health & Rights
Image of "Friends from College" TV Show showing the six main characters in the series.

What “Friends from College” Gets Right About IVF

By Jonathan Chernoguz | 09.06.2017

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is becoming an increasing part of our everyday lives. In the past few years, tech companies...

Arts & Culture

News

Editing Embryo DNA Yields Clues About Early Human Development

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 09.20.2017

Op-Ed

For the first time, scientists have edited the DNA in human embryos to make a fundamental discovery about the earliest days of human development.

By modifying a key gene in very early-stage embryos, the researchers demonstrated that a gene plays...

Human Genetic Modification

Artificial Human Embryos Are Coming, and No One Knows How to Handle Them

By Antonio Regalado, MIT Tech Review | 09.19.2017

Aggregated News

Stem cells can be coaxed to self-assemble into structures resembling human embryos.

Yue Shao had never seen anything quite like it.

Two years ago, Shao, a mechanical engineer with a flair for biology, was working with embryonic stem cells, the...

Bioethics

Here’s What Happened When A Football Team Decided To Give Out Free DNA Tests

By Stephanie M. Lee, BuzzFeed | 09.18.2017

Aggregated News

At the Ravens vs. Browns game on Sunday, a biotech startup had planned to hand out tens of thousands of free genetic tests. But the promotion was axed at the last minute after questions from the Maryland health department.

A...

Arts & Culture

Four Good Reasons You Should Be Skeptical of the Claim That Biology Explains Inequality

By Michael White, Pacific Standard Magazine | 09.13.2017

Aggregated News

Four crucial facts about race, sex, and biology that contradict this messy argument.

In America, we've had a long history of people in positions of privilege and power who argue that innate biological differences between races or sexes explain why...

Biopolitics

Video
Talking Biopolitics 2017-2018 with Ben Hurlbut and Patricia Williams
Gene Editing and the Future of Reproductive Justice
Disability Justice & Gene Editing: Exploring Multiple Perspectives