News

Cathy Tie slips on a white lab coat bearing her name and the logo of her startup: Origin Genomics. "Welcome!" she says as she leads an NPR reporter, photographer and videographer on an exclusive tour of Origin's labs located...

This is the 17th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. The series is organized by Osagie K. Obasogie in...

THE INSTAGRAM POST, precision-guided by sex and age, had zeroed in on its target. Yuchen Tu is a conser­vatory-trained viola...

This is the 16th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring...

By Brian Alexander, MSNBC | 06.01.2006
While America was rushing to see sharp metal blades jut from Wolverine_s fists during the opening of the third "X-Men"...
By San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Mercury News | 06.01.2006

The delays in implementing California's ambitious stem-cell initiative -- primarily the result of litigation that borders on being nuisance suits...

By Richard Hayes | 06.01.2006

Mark Frankel asked if we’d share some general perspectives on what we believe to be the major challenges posed as...

By Richard Hayes, Tom Paine | 05.24.2006

Support for stem cell research has become a cause célèbre among Democrats. Last year New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine made...

By Susan Berke Fogel and Jesse Reynolds | 05.24.2006

C. Scott Tocher, Interim Counsel
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
210 Kings Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

RE: Re-comment on...

Press Statement

Two public interest groups this week submitted an open letter to the leadership of the National Academies, calling for greater balance in viewpoints and expertise on a new committee that will monitor human embryonic stem cell research and recommend voluntary guidelines to researchers.

The letter from CGS and the CSPI stated, "The proposed members of the committee bring a wealth of experience in the biological sciences and health law. However… we believe that a number of critical perspectives and backgrounds are inadequately represented."

The letter expressed three key concerns:

  • a lack of public health or health law experts, bioethicists, or policy experts who have expressed the need for caution and effective public oversight of stem cell research, including formal structures of federal regulation
  • a lack of experts with a professional background in the provision of women's health
  • a lack of experts who bring demonstrated research experience and concern for access to health care for ethnic minorities and the economically vulnerable

The National Academies Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee was established this month to regularly update the recommended nonbinding guidelines issued by a similar committee of the National Academies last year. The National Academies are a set of independent nonprofit organizations that advise the federal government on key matters of science, technology, and medicine.

The letter is available online at http://www.genetics-and-society.org/resources/cgs/20060522_naletter_cgscspi.html

The Center for Genetics and Society is a nonprofit information and public affairs organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of the new human genetic and reproductive technologies. The Integrity in Science Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest is a consumer advocacy organization that encourages policy-makers at all levels of government to seek balance on expert advisory committees.


Contact:
Parita Shah
510-625-0819 x312

Marcy Darnovsky
510-625-0819 x305


 

By William Saletan, Slate | 05.19.2006
We've just taken another step down the slippery slope toward eugenics.

The step involves "preimplantation genetic diagnosis," in which clinics...
By CHOE SANG-HUN, New York Times | 05.12.2006
SEOUL, May 12 _ Hwang Woo Suk, the disgraced cloning expert, was indicted on fraud and embezzlement charges today, months...