Articles and Commentary

What do recent advances in molecular genetics have to do with human rights? Quite a lot, it turns out. And key human rights documents have recognized this for some time.

Over the past few years, new “gene editing” tools that...

“I want to democratize science,” says biohacker extraordinaire Josiah Zayner.

This is certainly a worthy-sounding sentiment. And it is central to the ethos of biohacking, a term that’s developed a bit of sprawl. Biohacking can mean non-profit community biology labs...

When we talk about gene editing technology, we often talk about—but almost never deeply consider—the concept of designer babies. Consider this article in The New York Times, titled “Gene Editing for ‘Designer Babies’? Highly Unlikely, Scientists Say.”...

This commentary was originally published on the IJFAB Blog.

For more than a decade, Canadian regulation has explicitly countered commercialization of reproduction, prohibiting payment for surrogacy, sperm, or eggs as part of the Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Act of...

Recent developments in bioengineering promise the possibility of new diagnostic and treatment strategies, novel industrial processes, and innovative approaches to thorny problems in fields such as nutrition, agriculture, and biomanufacturing. As modern genetics has matured and developed technologies of increasing...

What would it mean to embrace new gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR–Cas9 at the very moment white supremacy is, once again, on the rise?

Whenever I tell someone about my research on the ethical issues surrounding reproductive and genetic technologies—everything from assisted...

CRISPR, the powerful gene editing technique that enables the precise modification of genes, is revolutionizing medicine and biotechnology. It can be used to alter embryonic DNA, delay the aging process, treat cancer, and other diseases. 

But the high costs and...