Enclosed is a copy of the latest from the Center for Genetics and Society. I do not agree with a lot of what they stand for and write about but we must have a balanced approach to this issue.
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Frank
Frank Mulcahy
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GENETIC CROSSROADS
NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR GENETICS AND SOCIETY
OCTOBER 26, 2007
James Watson's Legacy: Promoting a New Eugenics
Do James Watson's apology and resignation in disgrace from his post at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory lay to rest his troubling legacy? The world now knows about the blatant racism of the twentieth century's most famous geneticist. Those tracking the story have also learned of Watson's other assorted bigotries - his denigration of "ugly girls," "stupid" children, and "fat people"; his endorsement of paying rich people to have more children and aborting affected fetuses when tests for a "gay gene" are developed.
But that's not all. Though neither media nor blogosphere have emphasized it so far, Watson - and a small but disturbing number of other prominent figures - have over the past decade been actively promoting a renewed program of eugenics, this time using twenty-first century reproductive and genetic technologies.
The new eugenics crowd is hardly coy. Various among them have explicitly endorsed "seizing control of our [human] evolutionary future" and "engineering the human germline." Back in 1998 they held a high-profile conference - covered on the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post - to plan how to make this high-tech eugenics "acceptable" to the American public.
At that event, Watson called for "mak[ing] better human beings" by "add[ing] genes." A few years later, he wrote that "Hitler's use of the term Master Race" should not make us "feel the need to say that we never want to use genetics to make humans more capable than they are today."
We've accumulated an impressive number of other revealing Watsonisms. Please send us more; we'll add them to our collection.
James Watson in His Own Words
Media Advisory: Still Unnoticed - James Watson's Eugenic Enthusiasms
Watson's World by Jesse Reynolds
Nobel Notions and the Uses of Genetics
by Marcy Darnovsky
AlterNet
October 19, 2007
It's Nobel Prize season, and the Nobel scientists are very much in the news. James Watson, awarded the laureate in 1962 for helping to deduce the now-iconic double-helix structure of DNA, is currently embroiled in controversy after making a series of blatantly racist remarks in the UK Sunday Times last week.
But related views espoused by one of this year's laureates have gone unnoticed. In early October, the Nobel Prize for biology went to three scientists whose talent and persistence gave us "knockout mice," the genetically engineered lab animals widely used by researchers to model and study human diseases. In the words of a Nobel committee member, these designer mice have "led to penetrating new insights" in several biological fields.
The story of one of the biology winners, Mario Capecchi, was the lead in most of the news reports about the award. Capecchi's rags-to-riches life gave an extra mythic dimension to the fairytale-like quality that always accompanies the Nobel announcements, with their large sums of money and middle-of-the-night phone calls to astonished scientists.
Read more.
In-Home Genetic Tests Represent Risk
by Jesse Reynolds
Newsday
October 22, 2007
Residents of Long Island and elsewhere in the Northeast will soon see television ads recommending they "Be ready against cancer." One might assume these to be public service announcements calling for more exercise or diets rich in antioxidants. Instead, the ads will promote a test for genes related to breast cancer.
Although this will be the first major direct-to-consumer campaign promoting genetic testing, the manufacturer of the test will not be mentioned. Instead, small text at the bottom of the screens will let viewers know the ad is a "service" of Myriad Genetics, which holds patents on the tested genes.
Myriad's test is likely to be the tip of the iceberg, and what it suggests for the future is quite alarming. We'll soon see more advertising campaigns that, like those of drugs, prey on our insecurities and fears. And unlike Myriad's test, which must be ordered through your doctor, an increasing number of these will be available over the counter and performed in the privacy - and isolation - of your own home.
Read more.
Food from Cloned Animals: A Bait and Switch?
by Osagie K. Obasogie and Pete Shanks
San Francisco Chronicle
October 5, 2007
Californians should be allowed to know what they're eating. That's the simple reason why Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should sign SB63, the nation's first law requiring food from cloned animals to be labeled. But there are other reasons to go slow on this unproven technology, some of which have not received the attention they deserve.
Meat and milk from cloned animals are not yet available. But the Food and Drug Administration is about to allow them into America's food chain, contrary to both scientific evidence and public sentiment. The FDA issued a draft risk assessment in December 2006 that suggested food from cloned animals presents no serious safety issues. But this was discredited by a March 2007 report by the Center for Food Safety that exposed embarrassing inadequacies in the FDA's review; there are no peer-reviewed safety studies on meat from cloned cows, pigs or goats and only three inconclusive ones on milk. Even the National Academies of Science - the government's science adviser - has said that it's just not possible to adequately assess this foods' safety.
People find food from cloned animals rather unappetizing. A December 2006 Pew poll showed that nearly half of all people think it's unsafe while another 36 percent are unsure. Not surprisingly, the FDA received well over 100,000 public comments that were overwhelmingly opposed to their rosy-eyed assessment.
Read more...
The Latest from Biopolitical Times
Here are some of the recent posts from CGS' blog, Biopolitical Times. We invite you to add Biopolitical Times to your Internet routines or RSS reader, and to weigh in with your own comments.
Hillary Clinton and the Office of Technology Assessment
by Jesse Reynolds
October 19, 2007
Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton used the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet Sputnik launch to unveil her science platform. What about her plan to revive Congress's long-defunct Office of Technology Assessment?
First One in the Pool...
by Marcy Darnovsky
October 17, 2007
The point, of course, is that in fact not everybody is equally represented in the DNA databases that are rapidly expanding in the United States as well as the UK.
Moving the Goalposts on Hybrids
by Jesse Reynolds
October 12, 2007
In recent years, biologists have been advocating the use of various human-animal constructs in their work. They seem to get what they want. In fact, they may now be getting more than they even asked for.
Oprah on Renting Wombs in India: "It's beautiful"
by Jamie D. Brooks
October 11, 2007
On Tuesday, viewers of the Oprah Winfrey Show were informed that Americans going to India to hire surrogates on the cheap is not exploitation. Rather, it's a warm and fuzzy example of "women helping women."
CHA Grant Application: Pushed or Jumped?
by Jesse Reynolds
October 4, 2007
When a controversial applicant for California stem cell research funds withdrew its approved request during its final administrative review, it seemed a bit disingenuous.
The Old Gray Lady's "Distressing" Editorial
by Jesse Reynolds
September 25, 2007
It's distressing to see the nation's leading newspaper characterize informed choices about health risks -- choices unswayed by thousands of dollars -- as unacceptable barriers to scientific research.
CGS in the News
Genes and Race
The Daily Dish blog
Andrew Sullivan
October 20, 2007
"In general, when I read scientific accounts that include passages like the following, my eyes roll when they don't glaze over: 'While acknowledging that science is often used for positive purposes, including ones that benefit communities of color, social justice advocates must remain vigilant. All technologies, including new genetic technologies, develop in a political, economic and social context, says Patricia Berne of the Center for Genetics and Society, a public affairs nonprofit based in Oakland, California. "The broader political left has not really grappled with the ways these technologies affect our claim to resources, our claim to rights, and the well-being of our communities," she notes.'"
Stem Cell Chief a Top Scientist
Sacramento Bee
October 5, 2007
"'From my experience of watching Dr. Hall, I believe that the most challenging aspect of (Trounson's) job will be to juggle the interests and personalities' of the board members, said Jesse Reynolds, project director for the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland. 'Obviously, in particular, Chairman Robert Klein exerts a lot of authority.'"
Researchers Detour Around Stem-Cell Rules
Chronicle of Higher Education
October 1, 2007
"Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, in Oakland, Calif., thinks egg sharing is problematic because 'it's difficult to set up a fire wall between doctors whose primary responsibility is to the woman - the patient - and the researchers, whose primary motivation is to get the eggs for the research.'"
Google and Microsoft Want Your DNA
Wired Science blog
Brandon Keim
September 27, 2007
"According to consumer watchdog Privacy International, Google conducts 'comprehensive surveillance' and embodies an 'entrenched hostility to privacy.' Microsoft, though a little less invasive, is still Microsoft. What do they have in common? Both want you to trust them with your DNA. Jesse Reynolds of the Center for Genetics and Society reports on AlterNet about the companies' investments in 23andMe, a startup in the fledgling online genomic information industry."
Genetic Drift
Ziba Kashef
Colorlines (Sept / Oct 2007)
"All technologies, including new genetic technologies, develop in a political, economic and social context, says Patricia Berne of the Center for Genetics and Society, a public affairs nonprofit based in Oakland, California."
Other News and Views
Warning Issued over Egg Freezing
BBC News
October 17, 2007
Egg freezing should not be offered to women who want to put off having a family purely for lifestyle reasons, say experts.
Sex, Lies, and Embryos: The Implications of Granting Rights to Embryos
By Jessica Arons
Science Progress
October 16, 2007
When it comes to legislation regarding embryos created by ART, Louisiana has taken the lead in promoting the view that frozen embryos have individual rights..[But t]here are legitimate progressive concerns to be raised and addressed.including the health and well-being of women who undergo fertility treatments, donate eggs, or agree to be surrogate mothers; the risk of multiple pregnancies; the use of embryo screening for specific genetic or physical characteristics; and the access children of ART have to their own medical and genetic history.
IVF 'Cell Bank' Plan Criticized
BBC News
October 15, 2007
A US firm's controversial proposition to store stem cells from spare IVF embryos has angered UK scientists.
Gay Couple Buys 'Designer' Sons from US
Daily Telegraph (Australia)
October 14, 2007
A gay couple has traveled to the US to buy "designer twin boys" through a surrogate mother at a cost of as much as $133,000. Brian Sheldon and Matthew Shaffer are one of several gay couples taking advantage of California's liberal IVF laws. The couple ordered the two babies through Los Angeles-based American IVF pioneer Dr Jeffrey Steinberg. They even chose their preferred sex: male.
Enhancing the Species
The Times (UK)
October 10, 2007
On the controversial philosopher John Harris, who argues that we have a moral and ethical duty to improve the human race by biologically enhancing our children.
Sometimes, it's Hush-Hush over Donor Eggs
Orange County Register
October 7, 2007
Some 100,000 children have been born of donor eggs in America since 1984. The vast majority apparently don't know it. Many fertility doctors counsel their patients to never tell children born from these arrangements that a donor egg was involved.
The God of Sperm
LA Weekly
September 26, 2007
In an industry veiled in secrecy, a powerful L.A. sperm peddler shapes the nation's rules on disease, genetics - and accidental incest. For almost four decades, the industry has operated almost completely unmolested. Outside of a mostly inept series of somewhat bizarre FDA rulings, there is no top-down governance in the field. It is, as it has always been, self-policing.
Human Ova Trade to Be Banned
Korea Times
September 27, 2007
A new South Korean law restricts the types of ova that can be used for embryo cloning - ova prepared for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment which become surplus following pregnancy, and immature and abnormal ova prepared for IVF. Selling or purchasing ova is banned.
Therapeutic Misconception and Stem Cell Research
Mildred K. Cho & David Magnus
Nature
September 27, 2007
The therapeutic misconception is a particular concern for stem cell researchers for two reasons. First, like gene transfer (formerly misleadingly known as "gene therapy"), stem cell research is a frontier field. The potential for therapeutic misconception is especially large because of the promises already made.... Second, some stem cell research will depend upon participation of a class of individuals who are not patients and also not research subjects - egg donors - and for whom a different type of therapeutic misconception can exist.
Report Assails F.D.A. Oversight of Clinical Trials
New York Times
September 28, 2007
The Food and Drug Administration does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people who participate in clinical trials, a federal investigator has found.
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