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Emily Galpern, Biopolitical Times | 07.01.2021
Inspired by the Generation Equality Forum, the largest global gathering of feminists since 1995, the Center for Genetics and Society will be leading a coalition of organizational and academic leaders from 7–10 countries to bring gender, reproductive, racial, disability, and LGBTQ justice to the forefront of public and policy debates about human biotechnologies.
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In a landmark victory, reparations for survivors of state-sponsored sterilization are a part of the California state budget bill awaiting approval by Governor Newsom. People involuntarily sterilized in California prisons or under the 20th-century state eugenics program will be eligible for compensation up to $25,000. This win comes after a four-year effort led by California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and California Coalition for Women Prisoners, supported by reproductive, disability, criminal justice, and other social justice allies around the country. CGS has organized support for the policy throughout our biopolitical network since the bill’s initial introduction in 2018. This is a small but important step to address this reprehensible history.
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Connor McAlister, Biopolitical Times | 07.08.2021
Britney Spears' conservatorship and her forced IUD have brought to light the lingering effects of the American eugenics movement of the 20th century. She is the latest victim of a long history of forced sterilization and the reproductive oppression of those deemed "undesirable."
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Anna Fang, Biopolitical Times | 07.07.2021
Former CGS staffer Leah Lowthorp, now Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore Studies at the University of Oregon, recently took to the Good ID Stories Instagram page to speak about genetic ancestry testing, privacy, and the inability of DNA to capture the nuances of an individual’s identity.
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Stuart Newman, Biopolitical Times | 07.06.2021
Richard Lewontin made his mark on evolutionary biology with empirical work demonstrating an unexpectedly high degree of genetic variation in natural populations. Along the way, he published several influential papers contesting, on rigorous theoretical grounds, the purported genetic basis of IQ differences between demographic groups such as socially defined races. His death on July 4, which followed by three days that of his wife of 73 years Mary Jane, is a personal loss, and one that leaves an empty space in world science.
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GENE THERAPY | GENOMICS | DNA DATABASES | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION |
DISABILITY RIGHTS | RACISM | GOVERNANCE
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Derek Lowe, Science | 06.29.2021
The huge success of the mRNA vaccination platform has raised hopes about what comes next. But there are major differences between vaccines and therapeutics. More infectious disease vaccines are a definite possibility; beyond that the difficulties mount up. There may be real promise in the cancer vaccine field, but only in the long term.
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Rob Stein, NPR | 06.26.2021
Scientists used an experimental gene-editing technique to treat a rare disease in which the liver produces a destructive protein. This is the first example in which CRISPR-Cas9 is injected directly into the bloodstream to reach a tissue far away from the site of injection and edit very specific disease-causing genes. [See also the report in Science, below.]
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Jocelyn Kaiser, Science | 06.26.2021
In a preliminary but promising clinical trial, a novel treatment used messenger RNA to encode one of CRISPR’s two components and thus deactivate a mutated gene. Several study participants experienced sharp drops in their production of a mutant liver protein, with few short-term side effects. The researchers called it good proof of principle for injectable CRISPR treatments. [See also the report on NPR, above.]
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Paul Knoepfler, STAT | 06.25.2021
Dozens of clinical trials are testing different kinds of stem cells against Covid-19, and many stem cell clinics have started pitching cell therapies for Covid-19 in the past year. But this approach is unlikely to work; the experiments, and the buzz surrounding them, could even do harm.
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Kirsty Needham and Clare Baldwin, Reuters | 07.07.2021
A prenatal test used worldwide sends pregnant women’s genetic data to BGI, the Chinese company that developed it in collaboration with the military. U.S. officials see a security risk.
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Nicola Davis, The Guardian | 07.04.2021
At present a blood spot test for nine serious health conditions is conducted for all UK newborns. Should their whole genomes be sequenced instead? To gauge public attitudes, Genomics England held a webinar and four online workshops with 130 participants, suggesting “some public support.” The findings will be presented on 8 July.
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Claudia López Lloreda, STAT | 07.01.2021
In a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of researchers questions the reliability, ethical implications, and potential unintended consequences of using polygenic scores to select embryos, especially as companies push beyond disease prediction to screen for traits such as cognitive ability.
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Jordan Smith, The Intercept | 07.03.2021
An unregulated, questionably legal, and ethically dubious scheme by Orange County prosecutors targets individuals charged with very low-level misdemeanor offenses to obtain DNA samples. They've generated a vast database of samples that cannot be uploaded to the FBI’s CODIS nationwide network because they would violate federal rules.
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Sabrina Imbler, New York Times | 06.29.2021
A four-day workshop explored the right of Indigenous people to govern the collection, ownership, and use of their biological and cultural data. The movement pushes back on a long history of researchers taking Native data without permission, often stigmatizing the communities who participated or disregarding their customs surrounding the dead.
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Sylvie Corbet, AP | 06.29.2021
France’s parliament has passed a law that will allow single women and lesbians access to medically assisted reproduction for the first time. Fertility treatments such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization are free in France but were previously provided only to infertile heterosexual couples.
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Cath Clarke, The Guardian | 06.24.2021
The Surrogate, which is about to be released in the UK, broaches difficult conversations about surrogacy, abortion, racism, Down syndrome, and white privilege through the story of a woman who agrees to be a surrogate for her friend and his husband.
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Camisha Russell, Reproductive Biomedicine & Society | 06.02.2021
The most recent Black Lives Matter moment provides an important opportunity for consideration of the interlocking social and political systems that contribute to ongoing racism and racial inequality. What does this mean in the context of reproductive biomedicine, with its deep connections to eugenics? Which lives does reproductive biomedicine devalue and how?
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Zoe Brennan-Krohn and Rebecca McCray, ACLU News | 06.25.2021
Spears’ experience is part of a long history of people with disabilities — most often people of color — being robbed of the right to control their reproductive destinies. The coercive power and control handed to conservators is a disability rights crisis, and an insult to the reproductive liberty of people with disabilities.
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Jennifer Tsai, Slate | 06.27.2021
A race-based assumption that “on average, black persons have higher muscle mass than white persons” is still affecting who is eligible for a kidney transplant. For one biracial teenager, the consequences are stark; as a white person, he would qualify, but his doctors decided he is Black.
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Jason Fagone, San Francisco Chronicle | 06.24.2021
Professor Gregory Christainsen gained sudden notoriety at Cal State East Bay when some faculty discovered his journal articles on race and IQ and read them in horror. Why was he allowed to teach Black and Latino students that they were inherently less smart? What happens when a professor’s teachings aren’t just unpopular, but wrong?
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Adam Beam, AP | 07.07.2021
The payments will make California at least the third state — following Virginia and North Carolina — to compensate victims of the eugenics movement that peaked in the 1930s. The state has set aside $7.5 million for the reparations program, part of its $262.6 billion operating budget that is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
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Nico Lang, them. | 07.06.2021
While the provision’s supporters say it does not permit discrimination against marginalized populations, advocates believe that it will prevent LGBTQ+ people from receiving treatment for their particular health needs.
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Nicole Wetsman, The Verge | 06.30.2021
The World Health Organization has released a guidance document outlining six key principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence in health: protecting autonomy, promoting human safety and well-being, ensuring transparency, fostering accountability, ensuring equity, and promoting tools that are responsive and sustainable.
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