Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law

Ashkenazi women to pay more for BRCA tests

The ruling means that doctors offering tests for BRCA2 mutations are now legally obliged to ask women if they are Ashkenazi Jews. If they say they are, doctors must pay a licence fee to Myriad. No fee is due if a patient says she does not know.

Home test shows sex of fetus at five weeks

A finger prick test for pregnant women that can tell them the sex of their child has aroused huge public interest.

Ethics, science and human rights come together

UNESCO has issued a draft declaration it says will be the first ever to commit governments to take a position on the ethical and human rights dilemmas raised by modern research.

The Awful Truth About Drugs in Sports

Cheaters can't be stopped. Testing costs a fortune. It's shockingly easy to beat the system. The drug cops are perpetually playing catch-up. So says Don Catlin, the doping detective who helped break the BALCO scandal wide open—and the man who's about to launch a radical new campaign to finally solve the problem.

Ethnoancestry is now offering sub-haplogroup determination tests; DNA Heritage is now offering SNP (haplogroup) testing services.

Genetics center to launch new genetic-testing initiative

The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today that it is making a significant new investment in the Genetics and Public Policy Center to improve the overall effectiveness, safety, and reliability of genetic testing, and to develop and promote recommendations where appropriate.

Technology could grow beyond human control
A UN report argues that "the possibility of technology growing beyond human control must now be taken seriously."

Thai Govt, Oracle To Develop Medical, Genetic Database

Oracle Corp. said it has launched a pharmacogenomics project with the Thai government to collect and unify medical, health and genetic records in a nationwide electronic database.

Going From Genome to Pill
Science, Vol 308, Issue 5730, 1858-1860 , 24 June 2005
A new medicine for African Americans with heart failure hints at what the drug industry sees as the enormous payoff from pharmacogenomics

Scientists predict brave new world of brain pills

A new report by leading scientists in the fields of psychology and neuroscience argues that, very soon, there really will be a pill for every ill. "It is possible that [advances] could usher in a new era of drug use without addiction," said the report by Foresight, the UK government's science-based thinktank.

Drug That Responds Better to Blacks Raises Ethics Concerns; Don't Ignore Genetics, Says BiDil's Maker

The development has raised ethics concerns about gearing medicines to a certain race, but could help usher in so-called "personalized" medical treatments tailored to an individual's genetics.

Among Science's top unanswered questions: What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human? Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes? Are Humans Still Evolving? How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?