Biopolitical Times

The Center for Genetics and Society blog highlights the latest developments in the social, political, and ethical implications of human biotechnologies, with contributions from staff, fellows, consultants, and guest authors.

War in Ukraine Exacerbates Problems with Surrogacy Industry

By Emily Galpern | 03.31.2022

For a roundup of recent articles on the impact of the war on surrogacy, see this page at Surrogacy360, a project of the Center for Genetics and Society

Photos and videos of newborns lined up in plastic cots in a Ukrainian hotel room plastered the news at the beginning of the COVID pandemic; their parents were unable to reach them due to travel restrictions. As soon as Russia invaded Ukraine over a month ago, similar images emerged – though...

Other Countries

Gene of the Week Redux?

By Pete Shanks | 03.31.2022

Biopolitical Times

^{Participants in All of Us}

At Biopolitical Times, we used to enjoy skewering what we called the Gene of the Week: the all-too-common concept that some specific gene “caused” some particular emotion or behavior. We quit when the “candidate gene era” of biological science flunked the reality test, by the early 2010s. Unfortunately, as in the old horror movie, the idea, suitably mutated, may be coming back.

The idea of finding the connection — if any — between...

Genetic Selection

Remembrances of Sheldon Krimsky (1941-2022): Preeminent chronicler of conflict-of-interest and profit motive in the industry-university complex

By Stuart A. Newman, Guest Contributor | 05.09.2022

I first met Sheldon Krimsky at a conference on “Research with Recombinant DNA” organized by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC in March 1977. (We later discovered that we had unknowingly been together on a more momentous...

Human Genetic Modification

Crisis in Ukraine creates fears for Canadian parents using Ukrainian surrogates

By Alison Motluk | 02.24.2022

^{Originally published on 02.17.2022 in The Globe and Mail,

cross-posted by permission of the author}

^{Ukrainian Easter eggs by Luba Petrusha

CC BY-SA 3.0 via wikimedia}

With tensions rising in Ukraine, the Canadian government last weekend again urged its citizens to...

Policies

Biopolitical Times

War in Ukraine Exacerbates Problems with Surrogacy Industry

Gene of the Week Redux?

Remembrances of Sheldon Krimsky (1941-2022): Preeminent chronicler of conflict-of-interest and profit motive in the industry-university complex

Crisis in Ukraine creates fears for Canadian parents using Ukrainian surrogates

The Remarkable Ambitions of Peter Thiel

Somebody Should Regulate Genomic Technologies, Says UK Government Report

Deletions of Concern: Noninvasive Prenatal Screening and Disability, Part Two

Deletions of Concern: Noninvasive Prenatal Screening and Disability, Part One

Remembering Marsha Saxton

A Further Note on the Upcoming Human Genome Editing Summit

What the Backlash against the NYT Investigation of Prenatal Testing Gets Wrong

Marketing GM Babies in Turkish Cyprus?