Who's Advising the Government on Human Genetics?
By Alice Maynard,
BioNews
| 06. 29. 2015
Untitled Document
I served on the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) as a lay member from 2006 to 2012, and found exploring new developments in this area fascinating. On one hand, excitement - the push to a future of opportunity; on the other, uncertainty - the risk to a society we know and trust. I am forever grateful to the HGC for helping me understand my visceral response to some new developments - the 'yuck factor', as it has been so picturesquely called - getting past that to recognise the real opportunities and risks that such developments created.
Read more...
Related Articles
By Adam Feuerstein, Stat | 11.20.2025
The Food and Drug Administration was more than likely correct to reject Biohaven Pharmaceuticals’ treatment for spinocerebellar ataxia, a rare and debilitating neurodegenerative disease. At the very least, the decision announced Tuesday night was not a surprise to anyone paying attention. Approval...
By Lucy Tu, The Guardian | 11.05.2025
Beth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother’s pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either...
By Emily Glazer, Katherine Long, Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal | 11.08.2025
For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.
Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called...
By Robyn Vinter, The Guardian | 11.09.2025
A man going by the name “Rod Kissme” claims to have “very strong sperm”. It may seem like an eccentric boast for a Facebook profile page, but then this is no mundane corner of the internet. The group where Rod...