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Genewatch
The Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG) was a nonprofit NGO with a focus on biotechnology. History The Council for Responsible Genetics was founded in 1983 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An early voice concerned about the social and ethical implications of modern genetic technologies, CRG organized a 1985 Congressional Briefing and a 1986 panel of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, both focusing on the potential dangers of genetically engineered biological weapons. Francis Boyle was asked to draft legislation setting limits on the use of genetic engineering, leading to the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989. CRG was the first organization to advance a comprehensive, scientifically based position against human germline engineering. It was also the first to compile documented cases of genetic discrimination, laying the intellectual groundwork for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). The organization created both a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Gruber
Jeremy Gruber is a lawyer, writer, and public policy advocate and is the senior vice president at Open Primaries. He is the former President and Executive Director of the Council for Responsible Genetics. He has testified before the United States Congress on genetic privacy and discrimination issues. He was a leader of the successful effort to enact the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act as well as a number of state laws that preceded it and led the successful campaign to roll back a controversial student genetic testing program at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2011, Gruber led an effort to successfully enact CalGINA-a California law that extends genetic privacy and nondiscrimination protections into areas such as life, long term care, and disability insurance, mortgages, elections and other areas. Gruber is a founder and executive committee member of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness and the Pew Project on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheldon Krimsky
Sheldon Krimsky (February 18, 1942 – April 25, 2022) was a professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, and adjunct professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University School of Medicine. He was a fellow of the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institution. Krimsky received his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Brooklyn College and Purdue University respectively, and a masters and doctorate in philosophy at Boston University. Work ''Science in the Private Interest'' In his 2003 book ''Science in the Private Interest'', Krimsky argues that conflicts of interests are perceived and regulated very differently in public affairs and in science: The prophylactic measures that are taken to prevent conflict of interest in public affairs are considered irrelevant in science precisely because scientists view themselves as participating in a higher calling than that of public officialsâ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Databases
A DNA database or DNA databank is a database of DNA profiles which can be used in the analysis of genetic diseases, genetic fingerprinting for criminology, or genetic genealogy. DNA databases may be public or private, the largest ones being national DNA databases. DNA databases are often employed in forensic investigations. When a match is made from a national DNA database to link a crime scene to a person whose DNA profile is stored on a database, that link is often referred to as a ''cold hit''. A cold hit is of particular value in linking a specific person to a crime scene, but is of less evidential value than a DNA match made without the use of a DNA database. Research shows that DNA databases of criminal offenders reduce crime rates. Types Forensic A forensic database is a centralized DNA database for storing DNA profiles of individuals that enables searching and comparing of DNA samples collected from a crime scene against stored profiles. The most important function of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genetic Determinism
Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether in embryonic development or in learning. Genetic reductionism is a similar concept, but it is distinct from genetic determinism in that the former refers to the level of understanding, while the latter refers to the supposedly causal role of genes. Biological determinism has been associated with movements in science and society including eugenics, scientific racism, and the debates around the heritability of IQ, the basis of sexual orientation, and sociobiology. In 1892, the German evolutionary biologist August Weismann proposed in his germ plasm theory that heritable information is transmitted only via germ cells, which he thought contained determinants (genes). The English polymath Francis Galton, supposing that undesirable trait ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genomics
Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dimensional structural configuration. In contrast to genetics, which refers to the study of ''individual'' genes and their roles in inheritance, genomics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of ''all'' of an organism's genes, their interrelations and influence on the organism. Genes may direct the production of proteins with the assistance of enzymes and messenger molecules. In turn, proteins make up body structures such as organs and tissues as well as control chemical reactions and carry signals between cells. Genomics also involves the sequencing and analysis of genomes through uses of high throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to assemble and analyze the function and structure of entire genomes. Advances in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioethics
Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, medicine and technologies. It proposes the discussion about moral discernment in society (what decisions are "good" or "bad" and why) and it is often related to medical policy and practice, but also to broader questions as environment, well-being and public health. Bioethics is concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, theology and philosophy. It includes the study of values relating to primary care, other branches of medicine ( "the ethics of the ordinary"), ethical education in science, animal, and environmental ethics, and public health. Etymology The term ''Bioethics'' (Greek , life; , behavior) was coined in 1927 by Fritz Jahr in an article about a "b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death of the two founders, the foundation owned 90% of the non-voting shares of the Ford Motor Company. (The Ford family retained the voting shares.) Between 1955 and 1974, the foundation sold its Ford Motor Company holdings and now plays no role in the automobile company. Ahead of the foundation selling its Ford Motor Company holdings, in 1949, Henry Ford II created the , a separate corporate foundation that to this day serves as the philanthropic arm of the Ford Motor Company and is not associated with the foundation. The Ford Foundation makes grants through its headquarters and ten international field offices. For many years, the foundation's financial endowment was the largest private endowment in the world; it remains among the wealthie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utne (magazine)
''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and DVDs. The magazine's writers and editors contribute book, film, and music reviews and original articles that tend to focus on emerging cultural trends. The magazine's website produces ten blogs covering politics, environment, media, spirituality, science and technology, great writing, and the arts. The publication takes its name from founder Eric Utne. "Utne" rhymes with the English word "chutney". Eric Utne's surname is ultimately derived from the Norwegian village of Utne, which loosely translates as "far out". History The magazine was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne as the ''Utne Reader''. Its tagline was "the best of the alternative press." For its first 20 years Jay Walljasper was editor; Julie Ristau was its publisher. During thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural conception and delivery of identical twins. The possibility of human cloning has raised controversies. These ethical concerns have prompted several nations to pass laws regarding human cloning. Two commonly discussed types of human cloning are ''therapeutic cloning'' and ''reproductive cloning''. Therapeutic cloning would involve cloning cells from a human for use in medicine and transplants. It is an active area of research, but is not in medical practice anywhere in the world, as of . Two common methods of therapeutic cloning that are being researched are somatic-cell nuclear transfer and (more recently) pluripotent stem cell induction. Reproductive cloning would involve making an entire cloned human, instead of just specific cells or tissues ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reproductive Technology
Reproductive technology encompasses all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including assisted reproductive technology, contraception and others. It is also termed Assisted Reproductive Technology, where it entails an array of appliances and procedures that enable the realization of safe, improved and healthier reproduction. While this is not true of all men and women, for an array of married couples, the ability to have children is vital. But through the technology, infertile couples have been provided with options that would allow them to conceive children. Overview Assisted reproductive technology Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is the use of reproductive technology to treat low fertility or infertility. Modern technology can provide infertile coupled with assisted reproductive technologies. The natural method of reproduction has become only one of many new techniques used today. There are millions of couples that do not have the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privacy
Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of appropriate use and protection of information. Privacy may also take the form of bodily integrity. The right not to be subjected to unsanctioned invasions of privacy by the government, corporations, or individuals is part of many countries' privacy laws, and in some cases, constitutions. The concept of universal individual privacy is a modern concept primarily associated with Western culture, particularly British and North American, and remained virtually unknown in some cultures until recent times. Now, most cultures recognize the ability of individuals to withhold certain parts of personal information from wider society. With the rise of technology, the debate regarding privacy has shifted from a bodily sense to a digital sense. As the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
