Written evidence for the Genomics and Genome-Editing Inquiry of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee
By Edward Hockings and Lewis Coyne,
Ethics and Genetics [cites CGS]
| 01. 20. 2017
KEY POINTS
- UK biosciences policy has become increasingly motivated by economic considerations in recent years, at the expense, we believe, of substantive public consultation and broader deliberation
- Freedom of Information requests show that the 100,000 Genome Project misinformed participants and the public as to the nature of access to genomic data granted to third parties
- Genome editing raises major ethical concerns which require comparable public deliberation, prior to which all further research should be prohibited
- 1.Introduction
Three years have passed since the government revealed its plans to sequence 100,000 genomes. The 100,000 Genome Project is expected to achieve that goal later this year. There is reason to be optimistic about it being of value, scientifically and clinically. There are also, however, reasons to be concerned about both the Genome Project and other areas of the developing fields of genomic medicine. In the following we outline some of those reasons.
- 2.Responsible Governance of the Biosciences
The 100,000 Genome Project forms part of a recent (post-2010) trend in the UK’s biosciences policy. Example initiatives include the integration of personalised medicine in mainstream...
Related Articles
By Jonathan D. Grinstein, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.26.2024
Partial screenshot from The Bridge Recombination Mechanism
video by The Arc Institute on YouTube (CC)
Buried in a family of mobile genetic elements, Arc Institute researchers led by Patrick Hsu, PhD, have discovered an RNA-guided system that enables modular...
By Carl Zimmer, The New York Times | 05.31.2024
Last year, Jaume Pellicer led a team of fellow scientists into a forest on Grande Terre, an island east of Australia. They were in search of a fern called Tmesipteris oblanceolata. Standing just a few inches tall, it was not...
By Liz Szabo, The New York Times | 05.29.2024
By the time Rena Barrow-Wells gave birth to her fourth baby in 2020, she was well-versed in caring for a child with cystic fibrosis. She was also experienced in fighting for a diagnosis of the disease, which runs in families...
By Alison Snyder, Axios | 06.06.2024
Gene editing's next chapter will be focused on tackling cancers and more common diseases, uncovering new details about aging and other fundamental aspects of biology and editing RNA, top scientists in the field said this week.
The big picture: ...