News

The legacy of eugenics

By Sheila Kaplan, UC Berkeley School of Public Health | 06.20.2024

These days, it’s a rare scientist who would admit to working in eugenics.

The word conjures historical horrors: mass sterilization of people judged unfit to reproduce, state anti-miscegenation laws, and Germany’s justification for the...

Human Genetic Modification

Biopolitical Times on CIRM's 'Depressingly Small Number of Effective Treatments or Cures'

By David Jensen [cites CGS' Pete Shanks], The California Stem Cell Report | 06.24.2024

_{Image by NIH Image Gallery from Flickr}

The Biopolitical Times reported this month that the California stem cell and gene therapy program “seems to be in serious trouble.”

“On first glance, it may look impressive, with over a thousand patients...

Stem Cells

Come Together: Bridge RNAs Close the Gap to Genome Design

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...

Human Genetic Modification

Today, ‘disability justice is reproductive justice’ — but that hasn’t always been the case

By Sara Luterman, The 19th News | 05.23.2024

Historically, the disability and reproductive rights movements have operated separately, “just ignoring each other,” as one advocate put it, as...

Society

DNA strands and moneybags on green background

Why isn’t gene therapy available to more patients? Blame millionaire prices and uncertainty as to its effectiveness

By Oriol Güell, El País | 07.07.2024

_{Image by Nick Youngson from Pix4free}

Darius is 15 years old and is a dazzling example of how medical research...

Human Genetic Modification

Work on synthetic human embryos to get code of practice in UK

By Ian Sample, The Guardian | 07.04.2024

Biological models of human embryos that can develop heartbeats, spinal cords and other distinctive features will be governed by a ...

Policies

Purple-colored sickle cells over a white background

A pill to treat sickle cell disease? Compound that activates fetal gene raises new hope

By Robert F. Service, Science | 07.04.2024

_{Image by Ed Uthman from Flickr}

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy procedures...

Human Genetic Modification

Japanese flag in front of a corporate building

Court orders Japanese government to pay damages over forced sterilisations

By Justin McCurry, The Guardian | 07.03.2024

^{Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash}

Japan’s supreme court has ordered the government to pay damages to dozens of people...

Society

Surrogacy money scandal leaves parents-to-be in limbo nightmare

By Gilma Avalos, NBC | 07.03.2024

_{Image by Josh Appel from Unsplash}

The dream of becoming parents is turning into a nightmare for hundreds of people...

U.S. Federal

A Retracted Stem Cell Study Reveals Science’s Shortcomings

By Peter Aldhous, Scientific American | 07.02.2024

In June a notice posted on the website of the journal Nature set a new scientific record. It withdrew what...

Human Genetic Modification

With its 'Chevron' ruling, the Supreme Court claims to be smarter than scientific experts

By Michael Hiltzik, LA Times | 07.02.2024

_{Photo by Claire Anderson on Unsplash}

Second only to the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday on when presidents are immune from...

U.S. Federal

IVF in the USA: A political dance

By Sonia Suter and Naomi Cahn, PET | 07.01.2024

_{Image by Dusdn5959 from Wikimedia Commons}

Since the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade (see BioNews ...

Assisted Reproduction