Regulation & Bioethics
GM foods strain old FDA and USDA laws
When is a fish not a fish but a drug? When government regulators take old laws and twist themselves into ...
Henrietta Lacks and genetic privacy
The Lackses’ experiences over the last 60 years foretold nearly every major ethical issue raised by research on human tissues ...
Who wants to live alongside sabre-toothed tigers?
The following is an excerpt. A few weeks back I chanced across a post by Carla Sinclair at BoingBoing in which she ...
Doctors should tell patients about some — not all — unexpected genetic findings
The following is an excerpt. On Thursday [21 March 2013], the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommended that doctors tell ...
Center for Genetics and Society calls for rejection of life-saving therapy
The U.K.'s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority has announced its endorsement of mitochondrial replacement therapy. The therapy, which could save ...
Chinese company attempts to engineer genius babies
At BGI Shenzhen, scientists have collected DNA samples from 2,000 of the world’s smartest people and are sequencing their entire ...
Letters: Knowing what’s in the food we eat
Two letters to the editor about the debate over GM-labeling are excerpted below. On the pro-labeling side: Andrew Kimbrell, Executive DirectorCenter for ...
Neo-Eugenics: An evolutionary argument against mitochondrial replacement therapy
A new form of genetic therapy is not only unethical, but also impossible because of the mess that evolution has ...
Jewish law and the “right to know”
In seeking to understand the relevancy of the issue of labeling foods in halakhah (Jewish law), it would seem that ...
New gene testing framework ignores privacy concerns
[G]ene testing has the potential to transform the way we manage health. The Department of Health and Ageing’s soon-to-be-released framework ...
A faith-based view of screening for genetic disorders
Christian blogger Ellen Painter Dollar responds to an article that accuses a doctor of being a eugenicist, after the doctor ...
Species revival: should we bring back extinct species?
Genetic technology has made it feasible to revive recently lost species through their DNA ... but should we? How do ...
Namibia: Millers promise to strengthen anti-GMO measures
The following is an excerpt. Windhoek — Following revelations that maize meal available on Namibian shelves contain percentages of genetically ...
“Phenomenon of nature”: Biologist turned law professor on why Myriad may be on shaky ground
Biologist turned-law professor Jeffrey Lefstin argues that, in the case of Myriad, the requisite that patents be a "non-obvious application ...
Human genes are patentable, says Australian court
An Australian federal court has ruled that human genes are patentable. The court held that isolated DNA – even if ...
Supreme Court to weigh-in on human gene patent law conundrum
The Court’s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, which will be argued in April, may finally settle ...
Celltex v. the FDA: Do patients have a right to use their own stem cells for unproven treatments?
By classifying stem cells as drugs, regulations from the FDA have prompted Celltex, a Texas-based company that stores and multiplies ...
Namibians eat unapproved GM maize products
Maize meal sold in some shops in Namibia is derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), a recent test has revealed ...
Monsanto, Myriad: Two US Legal Cases Shaking Biotechnology Industries
Two cases, Bowman v. Monsanto Co and Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics -- once centered on agricultural genetics, ...
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act under scrutiny
In early February, a team of scientists demonstrated that they could use public databases to link genetic data to its ...
Crime-fighting DNA databases vs Genetic privacy
Should police take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet charged with a crime? Some argue DNA ...
Should we ban genetically engineered babies?
In a recent debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, an intellectual forum whose periodic events are broadcast on the web, scientists ...
Q&A with Mark Lynas and plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff
Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and pioneer in transgenics, critiques Lynas' recent speech and discusses the future of plant biotechnology ...
Q&A with Mark Lynas and plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff
Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and pioneer in transgenics, critiques Lynas' recent speech and discusses the future of plant biotechnology ...
Q&A with Mark Lynas and plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff
Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and pioneer in transgenics, critiques Lynas' recent speech and discusses the future of plant biotechnology ...
Q&A with Mark Lynas and plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff
Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and pioneer in transgenics, critiques Lynas' recent speech and discusses the future of plant biotechnology ...
Q&A with Mark Lynas and plant geneticist Nina Fedoroff
Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and pioneer in transgenics, critiques Lynas' recent speech and discusses the future of plant biotechnology ...