Human Rights

Human rights law and discourse help to ensure respect for individual worth and the common good in the face of powerful biotechnologies. Claims to universal human rights depend, in part, on formal recognition of our common humanity. Drawing on human rights as a broad framework for establishing policies regarding human biotechnologies, both the Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo Convention) and UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights  reject genetic modifications that would alter the genomes of future generations.


CGS-authored

What do recent advances in molecular genetics have to do with human rights? Quite a lot, it turns out. And key human rights documents have recognized this for some time.

Over the past few years, new “gene editing” tools that...

Biopolitical Times
The “Geneva Statement” is a robust and cautionary statement about the future of heritable genome editing that brings new voices and perspectives to a conversation that has so far been dominated by scientists and bioethicists.
Internal Content

To: The Biden-Harris Administration

From: Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, Executive Director, Center for Genetics and Society[1]

December 2020

 

Heritable...

A baby stiffly lays in a cardboard box, surrounded by package bubble wrap.

CGS-authored

Black and white photo displaying two police motor bikes.

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Human hands hold up a crystal ball to the sky, reflecting the blue sky with clouds and city buildings.

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Shadow of a pregnant woman standing.

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Close up of a statue of Themis, the Greek Goddess of Justice, holding a scale in one hand. Sunshine falls and creates shadows in the statue crevices.

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A globe is shown, highlighting North and South America

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A baby, sitting inside of a crib, playfully looks to the side. One hand is holding a bar of the crib. Light pours out from a nearby window.

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A container is filled with cotton swabs.

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