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Our Work During the COVID-19 Crisis
Marcy Darnovsky, Biopolitical Times | 03.24.2020
Our focus these days—like yours, I imagine—is largely on the spread of COVID-19 and its dire consequences. But our work goes on, and we’ll continue to share with you periodically in the weeks to come. This pandemic points to the relevance of concerns about social inequality: vulnerable groups are disproportionately experiencing risks and harms.
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Catch Up on Free CGS Resources
CGS Staff | 03.24.2020
If social distancing is giving you time to read, watch, and listen (certainly not the case for everyone), we’ve assembled some of our favorite free resources about the current debates and conversations on the social justice implications of human biotechnologies. We’d love to hear what you think.
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Appreciations and Best Wishes to our Communications Director
We bid a fond farewell to Communications Director Adrienne van der Valk, whose myriad contributions during her time at CGS helped us up our game in shaping public and policy conversations about the social justice implications of human genetics and assisted reproduction. We look forward to staying in touch with Adrienne as she launches her new venture, an independent design and communications company. Thank you, Adrienne!
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Movie Review: Human Nature
Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 04.02.2020
This documentary is really three movies in one: a useful explanation of the gene-editing tool CRISPR; the engrossing personal stories of two young people adjusting to life with a genetic disease; and an unfortunately one-sided discussion of the ethics of heritable human genome editing.
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Heritable Human Genome Editing Is Not Inevitable
Donna Dickenson, Katie Hasson, Marcy Darnovsky, Project Syndicate | 03.17.2020
In recent years, the policy consensus barring genetic changes that would be passed down to a person’s every descendant has been challenged. Though some scientists and bioethicists are now focused on creating a detailed roadmap for moving forward, there's a strong case to be made that the previous consensus was correct.
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A Genetic Information Privacy Act in California
Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 03.13.2020
State Senator Thomas Umberg has introduced a bill, SB 980, to offer new protections for users of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, part of a growing trend for states to regulate the industry.
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Doha Debates turns spotlight on future of genetics
Gulf Times | 03.13.2020
The question of where the line should be drawn in human gene editing, and if it should be allowed to create “superhumans,” was tackled by Doha Debates, and viewed by 4.9 million worldwide on Twitter. Katie Hasson debated with Julian Savulescu and Jamie Metzl, and won the popular vote. (Versions of this article were reprinted widely.)
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New York State Legalizes Gestational Surrogacy
Matt Tracy, Gay City News | 04.02.2020
New York lawmakers approved a budget bill on April 2 that includes provisions legalizing compensated surrogacy in the state. The vote came after a protracted battle that involved divisions among progressives, feminists, and supporters of LGBTQ rights over safeguards for surrogates and egg providers, legal parentage at birth, and other issues.
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Surrogacy: new parents stuck in US amid Covid-19 shutdown
Sirin Kale, The Guardian | 03.26.2020
A family lawyer and assisted reproduction specialist has been keeping an unofficial tally of the babies born via surrogate who are now trapped in the US, unable to reach the homes of their intended parents outside the country. According to her list there are 21; she also counts more than 100 babies in that situation who are expected to be born via surrogate in the coming months.
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International surrogacy and COVID-19
Alison Motluk, HeyReprotech Newsletter | 03.23.2020
Among the many people caught up in the COVID-19 nightmare are those involved in international surrogacy arrangements: expecting parents trying to get in, new parents trying to get out and others stuck in quarantine, unable to see their newborn children.
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How Tech Will Change Fertility
Claire Tomkins, Forbes | 03.09.2020
Fertility treatments still have a success rate of below 50% on average and only account for 2% of live births. So, the question remains: How will the industry scale?
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The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Settling Some Old Arguments About Ableism
Andrew Pulrang, Forbes | 03.30.2020
In a pandemic, the thin veil of racial, financial, and social privilege that shields some disabled people from the worst of ableism is snatched away. And for disabled people of color, disabled people who are poor, and disabled people marginalized in countless other ways even in the best of times, the threat is even worse.
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Potential Inequities in New Medical Technologies
Eric B. Kmiec and Jonathan Marron, Scientific American | 03.28.2020
Even if we solve the ethical questions about using breakthrough techniques such as CRISPR, will all patients have equal access?
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Mutants or miracles?
Michael Slezak and Penny Timm, ABC Australia | 03.14.2020
They were the genetically modified cows that would change the dairy industry forever. Then it all went wrong and the experiment ended up in an Australian paddock.
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