Pete Shanks
Pete Shanks, MA, attended Oxford University, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and moved to California in the mid-1970s. He has been active in a range of local and international political movements, while mostly making his living in the publishing industry, especially on the production side; he enjoys the craft of bookmaking. Appalled by the eugenic possibilities of biotechnology, he has consulted with the Center for Genetics and Society since its earliest days. He is the author of Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for Activists, Skeptics, and the Very Perplexed (Nation Books) and a regular contributor to Biopolitical Times.
Publications
In mid-July, a bipartisan trio of U.S. Senators—Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Republican...
News broke this week that the first “three-parent” baby had been born. But the untested and controversial nature of the...
On May 10, about 130 scientists, entrepreneurs and others held an invitation-only event at Harvard. Organisers told invitees not to...
In the News
Analyzing and indefinitely keeping the DNA profiles of thousands of Californians arrested for felonies, but never charged with a crime,...
Let’s Not Distort Debates about Human Cloning and Heritable Gene Editing
Cloning is back in the headlines. Researchers managed to...
The direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing industry has been around for just over a decade. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration...
Biopolitical Times
September 17, 2019, marks the 20th anniversary of Jesse Gelsinger’s death. Jesse had a rare genetic disorder that caused...
The use of modern genetics as a prop for centuries-old racist biases continues despite the best efforts of most scientists....
A Star is Born
On July 5, 1996, the most famous individual sheep in history was born: Dolly, the first...
Talks and Testimonies
Synthetic Biology Shaping San Francisco hosted a forum titled, "Synthetic Biology: DIY Tinkering Meets Big Capital."
Full video and transcript can be...