This post originally appeared in The Conversation on September 24, 2019 published here. California passed a law on Sept. 9, 2019 designed to curb the number of medical exemptions issued for childhood vaccinations. Called SB 276, it restricts these exemptions from mandatory vaccines for children attending...
Category: Uncategorized
REPOST: Civil Society Statement to the Organizers of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
January 23, 2019
This post originally appeared on the Center for Genetics and Society’s website on November 28, 2018. To add your signature, please sign here or email your name and affiliation to info@geneticsandsociety.org . The undersigned individuals and organizations wish to express our dismay and outrage at He Jiankui’s claims of creating...
Toxic Breastmilk: When Substance Abuse Relapse Means Death for Baby
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
This post originally appeared on the Harvard Law Bill of Health on November 15, 2018.http://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2018/11/15/toxic-breastmilk-when-substance-abuse-relapse-means-death-for-baby/ Recently, a nursing mother in Pennsylvania made national headlines when her infant died from ingesting a combination of fatal drugs through breastmilk. According to the coroner’s report, the infant died from a combination...
Public Comments to Singapore’s Bioethics Advisory Committee on Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
July 26, 2018
In the Spring of 2018, Singapore issued a call for Public Comments on the topic of whether it should repeal the country’s current prohibition against germline modification of embryos and permit an exception for Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy. See the story here and here. ...
As Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer Gene Mutation Expands, Questions Arise About Treatment Decisions
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
May 18, 2018
This post originally appeared on The Conversation on May 3, 2018. The Food and Drug Administration recently announced its authorization that permits genetics testing company 23andMe to market a test for gene mutations associated with risk of breast and ovarian cancer. In response, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki asserted that...
Hawaii’s New End-of-Life Law: Do the Additional Safeguards Withstand Scrutiny?
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
This post originally appeared on The Hastings Center Bioethics Forum on May 4, 2018. Last month, Hawaii became the seventh state, with the District of Columbia, to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Similar to some of the other state laws, Hawaii’s Our Care, Our Choice Act permits competent adults with...
Engineering Consensus in the Development of Genome Editing Policy
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
March 14, 2017
This commentary was originally published as an Essay on the Hastings Center Bioethics Forum here. In the past few weeks media outlets have been reporting on the release of Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and...
Questions about Deaths in Cancer Trials using Gene-Altered Cells
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
January 9, 2017
This article was originally posted on The Center for Genetics and Society’s site here. In the past month, the media has reported seven patient deaths of subjects enrolled in separate gene therapy clinical trials being conducted by Juno Therapeutics and by Ziopharm Oncology, Inc., both...
The Problem of Transparency and Human Genome Editing
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
June 4, 2016
In the past several weeks, human genetic modification has been dominating headlines. This time, the controversy surrounded the closed door meeting between 130 scientists, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and government officials to discuss the creation of a synthetic human genome. The project, called “Human Genome Project-Write...
Read the Fine Print Before You Send Your Spit to 23andMe
posted by: Katherine Drabiak, J.D.
April 7, 2016
Our genomic sequence constitutes the most sensitive and personal of information: uniquely identifying us, revealing our propensity to develop certain diseases and conditions, and exposing familial connections of close genetic relatives. In recent years, Big Data has taken firm hold in numerous sectors, revolutionizing the volume and...