The latest from the Center for Genetics and Society DONATE June 23, 2022 Threat, Promise, and the Need for Regulation: AI Is Here Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 06.23.022 Artificial intelligence is transforming biotechnology industries, from assisted reproduction and genomics to animal technologies and human simulation. While some developments prove promising, lack of regulation and financial conflicts of interest threaten to exacerbate potential social harms. Biopolitical News & Views Summer Schedule CGS will publish one issue per month in July and August of this newsletter Biopolitical News & Views. Conference Presentations by CGS Communications Consultant Emma McDonald A PhD candidate in Theological Ethics at Boston College, Emma presented in early June on racial bias in maternal healthcare and qualitative interviews with Catholic women using reproductive technologies at annual conferences for the College Theology Society and Catholic Theological Society of America. GENOME EDITING | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION | STEM CELLS EUGENICS | AGRICULTURE | SURROGACY360 | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GENOME EDITING Half in UK back genome editing to prevent severe diseases Ian Sample, The Guardian | 06.22.2022 A survey commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust found that 53% of people support the use of human genome editing to prevent children from developing serious diseases, while only 20% support its use to make “designer babies.” Side Effects May Include … A Completely New Hair Color? Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic | 06.22.2022 An experimental gene therapy for cystinosis not only improved symptoms of the disease, but it also altered patients’ hair color, pointing to the still-unknown role that the CTNS gene plays in the body. Children to get CRISPR treatment for sickle cell disease in trial Michael Le Page, New Scientist | 06.16.2022 CRISPR gene-editing trials for beta thalassaemia and sickle cell disease are being extended to include people under the age of 12 after the therapies proved successful in patients aged 12-35. Fertility Frontiers: What Is a 'Permitted' Embryo in Law? Antony Starza-Allen, Progress Educational Trust | 06.13.2022 At a Progress Educational Trust event considering potential changes to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, Robin Lovell-Badge, Julian Hitchcock, and other speakers discussed whether the concept of the 'permitted embryo' should remain or be changed to allow heritable genome editing. Good and evil on the new frontier Kit Wilson, The Critic | 06.10.2022 To keep up with rapid biotechnological change, we need a more holistic ethical vision—one that begins every scientific challenge with a simple question: “what is the ultimate good?” ASSISTED REPRODUCTION This Father’s Day, spare a thought for the people touched by anonymous sperm donation Alison Motluk, The Globe and Mail | 06.18.2022 In trying to help those hoping to conceive with their grief over not being able to have children, we have created new grief that takes its place: donor-conceived people not knowing the identity of their genetic parent. What happens when your conception begins with deception? Kudrat Wadhwa, The Verge | 06.14.2022 Genetic testing has revealed a flood of fertility fraud cases, but victims often have no legal recourse to hold physicians accountable. Some victims and legal advocates are working to develop state-level legislation to criminalize fertility fraud. Sperm Is a Focus of Start-Ups Looking to Boost Fertility Fiorella Valdesolo, WSJ Magazine | 06.08.2022 In response to mounting evidence that sperm quality is declining, new start-ups are offering home sperm tests and prenatal supplements for men. But there is little evidence to support the efficacy of these supplements. STEM CELLS Disgraced Italian surgeon convicted of criminal harm to stem cell patient Gretchen Vogel, Science | 06.16.2022 Paolo Macchiarini, once hailed as a pioneer in regenerative medicine, was convicted of one count of “causing bodily harm” in a Swedish court, but was given a suspended sentence. Washington AG wins $500,000 for clients of Seattle company selling unproven stem cell treatments Helen Smith, King 5 | 06.14.2022 US Stemology must pay $500,000 in restitution to patients after offering unproven stem cell treatments they claimed could treat serious medical conditions. The company is not allowed to advertise, market, or receive any payment for the treatments. Royalty Language Cracks Firewall Between Lawmakers and $12 Billion California Stem Cell Agency David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report | 06.14.2022 Little noticed changes contained in the 2020 ballot initiative, Proposition 14, ­­­­give lawmakers power over royalties from therapies and inventions financed by CIRM. If royalty revenues increase as projected, CIRM could stand to lose out to other state agencies on a significant amount of funding. EUGENICS Where science meets fiction: the dark history of eugenics Adam Rutherford, The Guardian | 06.19.2022 In the simplicity of Mendel’s peas is a science which is easily co-opted, and marshalled into a racist, fascist ideology, as it was in the US, in Nazi Germany, and in dozens of other countries. To know our history is to inoculate ourselves against it being repeated. White Nationalists Want to Reclaim Nature as a Safe Space for Racists Tess Owen, Vice | 06.15.2022 National parks are regarded by these white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups as not just free from environmental pollution but also remote, unclaimed spaces “free of contaminants”—meaning, non-white people. Conversely, urban areas or diverse parts of the country have often been regarded as “cesspools” or “shitholes"—hubs of moral and social decay. The Simple Antidote to the Poisonous ‘Race Science’ Revival Dan Samorodnitsky, The Daily Beast | 06.12.2022 As gatekeepers of the scientific community, publishers should recognize that race science is both bad research and actively harmful. They can reduce the spread and potency of this work by simply refusing to publish it. New York fund apologizes for role in Tuskegee syphilis study Jay Reeves, The Associated Press | 06.11.2022 Starting in 1935 and extending almost 40 years, the Milbank Memorial fund covered funeral expenses for Black men who died of syphilis in the Tuskegee study, in an attempt to persuade the families to consent to autopsies to study the effects of the disease. Now, the fund is publicly apologizing to descendants for its role. Victims of Forced Sterilization in California Are Fighting for Reparations Ray Levy-Uyeda, Truthout | 06.08.2022 Survivors of eugenic sterilization in California prisons are now eligible to apply for compensation from the state, but the burden is on them to prove they were sterilized. Lack of access to medical records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation makes it difficult for women to even apply for compensation, let alone receive it. AGRICULTURE This CRISPR pioneer wants to capture more carbon with crops Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review | 06.14.2022 New research at Jennifer Doudna's Innovative Genomics Institute aims to create faster-growing, carbon-hungry plants using the gene-editing tool. SURROGACY360 Georgia May Be the Future of India’s $375 Million Surrogacy Industry Charu Sudan Kasturi, Insider | 06.08.22 India’s commercial surrogacy ban may be driving intended parents to the country of Georgia, where commercial surrogacy is not only legal but also relatively inexpensive. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE What Will It Take to Decolonize Artificial Intelligence? Robin Donovan, NEO.LIFE | 06.16.2022 Workforce diversity, collective oversight, and day-to-day algorithm monitoring are all necessary to mitigate inherent bias. Inside Europe’s fight for ethical AI Oscar Williams, The New Statesman | 06.14.2022 France wants to expand the scope of the EU's groundbreaking new AI Act. Do its plans go far enough? 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