Civil Society

Civil society typically refers to nonprofit advocacy organizations, sometimes called nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), that are political actors separate from government and private enterprises. For many important social issues, there are dense networks of civil society institutions. In general, they play an important role in holding governments accountable, countering the power of corporations, and contributing to democratic governance. Discussions of the social consequences of human biotechnologies are incomplete without the inclusion of civil society perspectives – for example, from reproductive, disability, LGBTQI, racial, and environmental justice movements – because of the potential for these technologies to exacerbate existing inequalities and create new ones.


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How do you stop a mad scientist?

We’ve been doing it in fiction for centuries. Doctor Faustus was carried off to hell. Pneumonia and an Arctic ice flow ended Victor FrankensteinDoctor Moreau’s own creations ultimately did him...

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California is being sued over its DNA collection practices, and the only thing that’s surprising is how long it took. In 2004, state voters passed Proposition 69, which requires authorities to collect DNA from anyone arrested for a felony. The...

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Advocates of science are in a bad place right now. Some days, in this Second Year of Trump, scientism—a blanket...

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This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announced that geneticists had analyzed her DNA and proved her longstanding claim that...

While embryo selection and gene editing technologies may offer great hope to couples looking to prevent hereditary disease or improve fertility. The debate over these technologies has reignited concerns that we are closer to slipping down the slope to designer babies than ever before. Are these fears warranted…or overblown?

Press Statement
Press Statement

A new survey has found implicit biases in medical students that may explain why black patients are sometimes under treated for pain, with some students believing that black people feel less pain and have thicker skin than white people.

Press Statement