Center for Genetics and Society

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The Center for Genetics and Society (CGS) is a nonprofit information and public affairs organization, based in Berkeley, California, United States. It encourages responsible use and regulation of new human genetic and reproductive technologies.

CGS provides analysis and educational materials in addition to organizing conferences, workshops, and briefings. It is particularly critical of proposals for reproductive human cloning and germline genetic modification — uses of technology that it considers socially irresponsible.

CGS is a politically progressive and pro-choice organization. Its key areas of concern include: genetic modification of humans, stem cell research, DNA forensics, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, commercial and cross-border surrogacy, race and genetics, race-based medicines, egg retrieval, designer babies, human cloning, social sex selection, genetics and disability rights, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, human applications of synthetic biology, and the legacy of the US eugenics movement.

The executive director of CGS is Marcy Darnovsky. The organization's Advisory Board includes Francine Coeytaux, Dorothy Roberts, and Alexandra Minna Stern. CGS’s current research fellows are Osagie Obasogie (Senior Fellow), Diane Beeson, Lisa Ikemoto, and Gina Maranto.

History

The Center for Genetics and Society was founded in October 2001 under the leadership of Richard A. Hayes, Ph.D. to advocate for social oversight and control of new human biotechnologies.[1] It drew from and continues to promote discussions and collaborations with key leaders in science, medicine, women’s health, racial justice, disability rights, environmental justice, and human rights. A primary focus of the organization has been to alert civil society constituencies to the challenges posed by new human genetic technologies and assist them in building their capacity to engage in the discussions and debates about appropriate regulation.[2]

CGS organizes and presents at key conferences and symposiums on biopolitical issues both nationally and internationally; conducts briefings for interest groups and elected officials; engages in selected policy interventions; and has a widespread media presence that includes high-profile publications, an active blog, and social media.

In 2005, CGS received a “Local Heroes” award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian.[3] In 2006, current Executive Director Marcy Darnovsky was named one of five “women in bioethics making a difference” by the Women’s Bioethics Project.[4]

Selected Policy Interventions

  • CGS has engaged with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.K. Department of Health and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority over proposals for human trials of a procedure that would produce inheritable genetic modifications, so-called “three-person IVF.”
  • CGS filed several amicus briefs in the lawsuit against Myriad Genetics concerning its breast-cancer gene patents. In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that naturally occurring human genes cannot be patented.
  • CGS supported the successful 2006 bill SB 1260, which ensures that women in California who provide eggs for private research are accorded all established federal and state protections for human research subjects, and limits reimbursement to their direct expenses. It helped defeat the 2013 bill AB 926, which would have removed these provisions.
  • CGS played a lead role in holding California’s $3 billion stem cell research agency accountable to the state’s legislature and public. It submitted invited testimony to the "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy in 2008 and to the Institute of Medicine Committee in 2012, focusing on the conflicts of interest built into the agency’s governing board.
  • CGS was involved in the early stages of the 2000-2005 United Nations effort to propose an international treaty prohibiting human reproductive cloning.

Selected Events and Conferences

CGS organized or co-organized the following conferences:

The Tarrytown Meetings

Organized by the Center for Genetics and Society, the Tarrytown Meetings in Tarrytown, New York, were held in July 2010, 2011, and 2012. The meetings brought together 200 advocates, policy experts, scholars, and others to discuss how emerging human biotechnologies could be used to “support rather than undermine social justice, equality, human rights, ecological integrity and the common good.”[5]

The primary goals of the meeting were to build an advocacy network across scholarly disciplines and civil society groups; collaborate on and discuss research and policy efforts relating to the development, use, and regulation of biotechnologies; and promote organization, outreach, and communication abilities. Among the topics addressed at the meeting were genetic testing and personalized medicine, assisted reproductive technologies and practices, race and genetics, DNA forensics, human genetic modification, and synthetic biology. The meeting generated a report entitled Building a New Biopolitics: The Story of the Tarrytown Meetings, 2010–2012.[6]

Talking Biopolitics

Since 2012, CGS has produced the live web-based interview series Talking Biopolitics, in which writers, scholars, and activists discuss critical biopolitical issues.

Selected speakers have included:

Selected Reports

Selected Op-Eds and Articles

Funding

CGS is a project of the Tides Center, a 501(c)3 organization funded by individual contributions and philanthropic foundations.[7] CGS receives support from private donors and from foundations and trusts including the Appleton Foundation; Lyman B. Brainerd, Jr. Family Foundation; and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.[8]

See also

External links

References

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