From Bioethics Briefings
Law Enforcement and Genetic Data
Framing the Issue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC8rd6onHts Watch “Law Enforcement and Genetic Data: A Discussion for Journalists” with writer Sarah Zhang at The Atlantic, Ellen Wright Clayton, an internationally recognized leader in the...Bioethics Forum Essay
DNA Phenotyping and Baby’s First Portrait
Some researchers are at work generating images of people’s faces by relying on DNA samples alone, in a process known as DNA phenotyping.The process involves linking genetic traits and their typical...Bioethics Forum Essay
A Decade’s Worth of Gene-Environment Interaction Studies, in Hindsight
In the early 2000s, Avshalom Caspi, Terrie Moffitt, and their colleagues published two papers (here and here), which suggested that we could finally begin to tell rather simple but evidence-based stories about...Read “A Decade’s Worth of Gene-Environment Interaction Studies, in Hindsight”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Genetic Testing in Torts Litigation – Justice or Injustice?
Genetic testing to identify the susceptibility of individuals to developing specific disorders or to confirm diagnoses is becoming increasingly common in clinical settings, where it raises a string of ethical...Read “Genetic Testing in Torts Litigation – Justice or Injustice?”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Genetic Information Is Not Always Benign
Ethicists and others have been concerned that the disclosure of genetic information to patients might have negative consequences. The suspicion has been that negative effects, say, becoming depressed, are particularly...Bioethics Forum Essay
Read the Fine Print Before Sending Your Spit to 23andMe
Editor’s note: This essay responds to an invitation (issued here and here) to submit commentaries on the ethical implications of partnerships between social media companies and biomedical researchers. The invitation...Read “Read the Fine Print Before Sending Your Spit to 23andMe”
Hastings Center News
Playing God: From Frankenstein to Gene Editing
What lessons does Frankenstein hold for us today, when powerful new technologies such as gene editing and artificial intelligence are bringing us closer than ever to playing God? That question...Hastings Center News
Ethical Questions About Whole-Genome Sequencing, 23andme, and More from the Brain-Genetics Frontier
Braingenethics Update, a free monthly newsletter, aggregates recent scientific literature, commentary, and news on questions raised by findings on the genetics of complex human behaviors. It is produced by the...Bioethics Forum Essay
Morally Indefensible Health Care Bills
There is a broad and deep moral conviction that health care should be distributed according to genuine need and not left to the cold mercy of pure market forces or the logic of actuarial fairness. Unfortunately, the proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA), passed last week in the House of Representatives, and other legislation threaten to undermine that moral commitment.Hastings Center News
Genome Sequencing of Newborns: How Can It Be Done Responsibly?
This was one of the many big questions explored at Genomics and Society, a major conference last week on the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic research. Several Hastings...Read “Genome Sequencing of Newborns: How Can It Be Done Responsibly?”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Scholars in New England Journal of Medicine: Supporting Women’s Autonomy in Prenatal Testing
Noninvasive fetal genetic sequencing done early in pregnancy is poised to become a routine part of prenatal care. While it could offer patients substantial benefits, there is a risk that...Bioethics Forum Essay
Do We Have a Moral Obligation to Genetically Enhance our Children?
The Oxford philosopher Julian Savulescu, among others, has argued that prospective parents engaging in embryo selection using preimplantation genetic diagnosis not only may seek to have genetically enhanced children but...Read “Do We Have a Moral Obligation to Genetically Enhance our Children?”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Genetics Symposium Draws Journalists from Around the World
Is there a parental obligation to create “better” babies? Now that scientists can genetically edit plants and animals for agricultural and other purposes, what can we learn from the longstanding...Read “Hastings Center Genetics Symposium Draws Journalists from Around the World”
Hastings Center News
Responsible Science in a Perilous Time: Hastings and Union of Concerned Scientists Join Forces
Climate change, nuclear proliferation, and the advancement of gene editing and other transformative biotechnologies pose enormous global challenges. How can we promote responsible science, good governance, and opportunities for public...Bioethics Forum Essay
Is Noninvasive Prenatal Genetic Testing Eugenic?
Before noninvasive prenatal screening becomes a routine part of gestational care, society needs to have difficult conversations about the ethical implications and establish a paradigm for truly informed consent in...Hastings Center News
Looking for the Psychosocial Effects of Genomic Test Results
For the last quarter century, researchers have been asking whether genetic test results might have negative psychosocial effects. Anxiety, depression, disrupted relationships, and heightened stigmatization have all been posited as...Read “Looking for the Psychosocial Effects of Genomic Test Results”
Hastings Center News
Documentary Series Premiere on Genetic Medicine Features Hastings Scholars
Hastings Center president Mildred Z. Solomon and director of research Josephine Johnston were featured speakers at the premiere screening of The Code, a series of three documentaries on the origins...Read “Documentary Series Premiere on Genetic Medicine Features Hastings Scholars”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Addressing Questions About DTC Genetic Tests and Privacy
The process is fairly simple. You select one of the companies that offer direct-to-consumer genetic tests; pay online; receive a neatly packed kit that contains a tube designed to collect...Read “Addressing Questions About DTC Genetic Tests and Privacy”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Do You Want the Police Snooping in Your DNA?
In late April, a suspect thought to be the Golden State Killer, a man who had eluded police for decades after committing a string of murders and rapes in Northern...Hastings Center News
The Gift and Weight of Genomic Knowledge
With the popularity of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, genomic knowledge is assuming a growing role in shaping human life. On the one hand, this knowledge is a gift, offering insights into...Hastings Center News
The Hastings Center Celebrates Outstanding Journalists
Three journalists received The Hastings Center Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics. The awards were presented at an event in New York City on December 6 that...Read “The Hastings Center Celebrates Outstanding Journalists”
Hastings Center News
New in Braingenethics: What Role Should Genetic Testing Play in Psychiatric Care?
Several DNA tests claim to predict how well particular psychiatric medications are likely to work for individual patients with depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. And 23andMe just received approval to...Read “New in Braingenethics: What Role Should Genetic Testing Play in Psychiatric Care?”
Hastings Center News
‘Designer Babies’ (You Say That Like It’s a Bad Thing)
Advances in preimplantation genetic diagnosis, genetic testing, and genome editing have renewed discussion about the ethics of “designer babies,” or children selected or engineered to have certain preferred traits, like...Read “‘Designer Babies’ (You Say That Like It’s a Bad Thing)”
Hastings Center News
Genomics Enters the Clinic: What Should Savvy Consumers Know?
Genetics is finally being integrated into the clinic: cancer patients are having their cancer’s genome sequenced, fertility patients are having their embryos tested, and parents are being offered sequencing of their newborn babies.Read “Genomics Enters the Clinic: What Should Savvy Consumers Know?”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Is GINA Unjust?
The protections of GINA play a key role in the decision of many of my healthy patients to decide to undergo genetic testing. My criticism is that GINA is unfair to people who might suffer discrimination in health. insurance for non-genetic reasons.Hastings Center News
Watch the Livestream: Genomics Enters the Clinic
What do patients and DTC genetic test consumers need to know about the clinical applications of genetics? That question was the focus of a recent public event at the New York Academy of Sciences, cosponsosred by The Hastings Center. Read a recap of the highlights and watch the livestream.Hastings Center News
Does Genetic Testing Pose Psychosocial Risks?
Hastings Center News
Hastings Partners on Unprecedented Genetics Resource Hub
Read “Hastings Partners on Unprecedented Genetics Resource Hub”
Hastings Center News
New Book: Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing
New book edited by Hastings Center scholars explores fundamental questions about the nature and well-being of human beings at a time when a revolutionary new biotechnology could permanently change the human species.Read “New Book: Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing”
Hastings Center News
New Hastings Researcher Tackles Questions About Genetic Research on Human Behavior
Read “New Hastings Researcher Tackles Questions About Genetic Research on Human Behavior”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Immigrant DNA Collection: Fighting Crime or Moral Panic
Last week, the Trump Administration proposed a new rule that would “require DNA-sample collection from individuals who are arrested, facing charges, or convicted, and from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States.” Collecting DNA of people detained under the Department of Homeland Security is not permitted under U.S. law. The proposed rule aims to change that.Read “Immigrant DNA Collection: Fighting Crime or Moral Panic”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Scholars Respond to Prison Sentence of Researcher Who Created First Gene-Edited Babies
The Compassionate Use Advisory Committee, headed by Hastings Center Fellow Arthur Caplan, of NYU Langone, received the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration’s Innovation Award. The committee was recognized for transforming how expanded access requests, also known as compassionate use requests, are granted by drug developers.Bioethics Forum Essay
Transcending Borders in the Ethical Oversight of Human Genome Editing
The bioethics and legal communities must come together to find ways to move with the same ease of the scientific research community--to transcend the geopolitical borders and jurisdictional concerns that make international regulation so difficult.Read “Transcending Borders in the Ethical Oversight of Human Genome Editing”
Hastings Center News
Could Genetic Testing for Educational Attainment Cause Harm? Hastings Researcher Begins First-Ever Study to Find Out
Hastings Center postdoctoral researcher Lucas J. Matthews is undertaking the first-ever study to examine the potential harms of telling students about their genetic propensity for educational attainment.Hastings Center News
Progressives, Conservatives, and Social Genomics
Over the past decade, the new field of social genomics has investigated how genomic differences among people are linked to differences in their behaviors and social outcomes, including educational attainment...Bioethics Forum Essay
A Narrow Path for Optimism that Social Genomics Can Combat Inequality
In his recent piece, “The genes we’re dealt,” Erik Parens puts his finger on cause for concern with what he calls social genomics: while progressives can use insights from this new field to justify combating inequality, conservatives can use them to justify the existence of that same inequality. This pessimistic conclusion—which Parens argues convincingly for—follows from a focus on insights at the societal level, that of a whole population. But there are grounds for optimism by focusing instead on potential insights from social genomics derived from local-level comparisons between different environments. Such insights could point to interventions that progressives and conservatives might just be able to agree on.Read “A Narrow Path for Optimism that Social Genomics Can Combat Inequality”
From Bioethics Briefings
Genomics, Behavior, and Social Outcomes
Framing the Issue The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 ushered in technological advancements that have made genetic information more accessible to researchers and the public than ever...Hastings Center News
Polygenic Embryo Testing: Understated Ethics, Unclear Utility
New technologies are expanding the reach and accessibility of preimplantation genetic testing of human embryos. But what these advances can deliver is still unclear, and a frank assessment of their...Read “Polygenic Embryo Testing: Understated Ethics, Unclear Utility”
Hastings Center News
Issue Brief: Equitable Access to Precision Medicine
A new issue brief from The Hastings Center, “Strategies to Support Equitable Access to Precision Medicine for All of Us Participants from Federally Qualified Health Centers,” presents policy recommendations to mitigate disparities in access to appropriate medical follow-up after the return of genetic findings.Bioethics Forum Essay
Could Alarm Over Genetic Manipulation Get in the Way of Environmental Conservation?
The American chestnut is basically defunct, unless science can rescue it. Genetic manipulation may be the answer.Read “Could Alarm Over Genetic Manipulation Get in the Way of Environmental Conservation?”
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Ethics of Law Enforcement and Genetic Data
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Law Enforcement and Genetic Data Law enforcement has collected and stored a limited amount of information from DNA from arrestees and convicted...Page
The Ethics of Deliberate Extinction
Principal Investigators: Gregory E. Kaebnick, James Collins Co-Investigators: Athmeya Jayaram Funder: National Science Foundation Genome editing provides new tools for controlling wild organisms–maybe by suppressing or eradicating populations, and...Bioethics Forum Essay
The Genetics of Obesity: A New Narrative or the Same Old Story?
It seems to me a kind of magical thinking to assume that explaining the genetic causes of obesity will reduce stigma when that new explanation is lodged firmly within a broader project of treating, preventing, or curing fatness. Today, drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and now Zepbound are the favored medical solution.Read “The Genetics of Obesity: A New Narrative or the Same Old Story?”
Bioethics Forum Essay
How to Avoid a Genetic Arms Race
Breakthroughs in our ability to change the genes of organisms are generating novel capabilities for biological weapons, a form of warfare that has been largely abandoned for decades. Guidance from scientists and bioethicists is needed to avert the threat.