The latest from the Center for Genetics and Society ‌ ‌ ‌ DONATE December 16, 2021 Great news: Thanks to our generous CGS supporters, we are already 80% of the way to raising $12,500 by the end of 2021! Even better news: You can double the impact of your gift! All gifts made by midnight on December 31st will be matched – up to $3,000. Will you make a donation to CGS today and help us cross the finish line? DONATE Ensuring Equitable Use of New Genetic Technologies: Lessons from Eugenics CGS Senior Fellow and UC Berkeley Law professor Osagie Obasogie will moderate a discussion with Emily Klancher Merchant and Lisa Dive about new genetic technologies that have altered the landscape of human reproduction and how the study of eugenics can help us understand them. Registration and more information here. CGS Year in Review Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 12.16.2021 The past year saw intensified efforts by CGS to promote an equitable future where human genetic and reproductive technologies benefit the common good. Q&A with Osagie K. Obasogie on Election to the National Academy of Medicine Anna Fang, Biopolitical Times | 12.13.2021 UC Berkeley Law professor Osagie Obasogie has been associated with CGS for nearly 20 years, first as a staff member and now as a Senior Fellow. Here he talks with Anna Fang, CGS intern and UC Berkeley student, about his ongoing work. GENOME EDITING | GENOMICS | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION | EUGENICS | VARIOUS GENOME EDITING GM ‘designer babies’: breakthrough or nightmare? Dave King, Red Pepper | 12.06.2021 The real market for genetically modified babies will be for ‘designer babies’, enhanced to compete better with other children, to satisfy parents’ whims, or to avoid (and thereby perpetuate) social oppressions. Stop Designer Babies is campaigning for a global ban on human genetic engineering. If we want to avoid a future of free market eugenics, that is the only solution. Controversial mitochondrial donation legislation passed after conscience vote Sarah Martin, The Guardian | 12.01.2021 Mitochondrial donation had been illegal under Australian law as it is an offense to create a human embryo that contains the genetic material of more than two people or contains heritable changes to the genome. Legislation to allow mitochondrial donation has passed the lower house of parliament. Debate in the Senate has been pushed to the 2022 session. GENOMICS Journal Retracts Paper Based On DNA of Vulnerable Chinese Minorities Mara Hvistendahl, The Intercept | 12.13.2021 The retraction by Human Genetics follows a two-year crusade by a Belgian scientist to push publishers to investigate research that he and others say is complicit in human rights violations. The paper was based on DNA samples from nearly 38,000 men in China, including Tibetans and Uyghurs who almost certainly did not give proper consent. At least nine of the paper’s 30 co-authors are affiliated with Chinese police departments or police academies. The big idea: how much do we really want to know about our genes? Daniel M Davis, The Guardian | 12.06.2021 As scientists discover more links between specific genetic variants and particular diseases, many more of us will find ourselves drowning in estimates and probabilities that play games with our mind and our identity, and require us to make difficult decisions about our health and how we live. Science misinformation alarms Francis Collins as he leaves top NIH job Nidhi Subbaraman, Nature | 12.03.2021 The former genome project leader reflects on his 12 years at the helm of the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research. Asked about He Jiankui’s germline interventions, Collins stressed that scientists have a moral compass and should use it to point out irresponsible behavior; he also regrets the lack of an international body to set and oversee ethical rules. ASSISTED REPRODUCTION IVF used by some to avoid passing on genetic diseases to offspring Jamie Talan, The Washington Post | 12.04.2021 Increasingly, preimplantation genetic diagnosis is used not just for identifying childhood-onset conditions but also for diseases that could take decades to develop. Some couples have used sex selection to avoid risks of passing on a disease to grandchildren. Such choices have been controversial for decades but appear to be becoming more common. EUGENICS The Eugenics Movement in Retrospect Rob DeSalle, Natural History | 12.11.2021 Despite warnings by some biologists and geneticists, eminent individuals and venerable institutions helped promote a false theory that led to sterilizations and genocide. This essay describes in detail the proceedings of the 1921 Second International Congress of Eugenics. On the legacies of eugenics Marius Turda, Challenging Pseudoscience (Apple Podcast) | 12.10.2021 In this recording of a talk given in September, Turda argues that the longevity of eugenics is due in part to the credibility it was given by the scientific elite from the 1870s onwards. He argues that the time has come to cut down this tree and remove its global roots. The personal and collective reckoning with the legacies of eugenics can then begin. VARIOUS Scientists claim big advance in using DNA to store data Paul Rincon, BBC I 12.01.2021 A team in Atlanta has developed a chip that they say could improve on existing forms of DNA storage by a factor of 100 and lower cost in the long term. Because of the time required for writing and reading the sequence, the technique would be most useful for information that must be kept available for a long time, but accessed infrequently. If you've read this far, you clearly care about the fight to reclaim human biotechnologies for the common good. Thank you!  Will you support CGS by making a donation today? DONATE SUBSCRIBE | WEBSITE | ABOUT US | WHO WE ARE | CONTACT ‌ ‌ ‌ DONATE The Center for Genetics and Society | 2900 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland, CA 94610 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!