CRISPR Critters and CRISPR Cracks

This essay focuses on possible nonhuman applications of CRISPR/Cas9 that are likely to be widely overlooked because they are unexpected and, in some cases, perhaps even "frivolous." We look at five uses for "CRISPR Critters": wild de-extinction, domestic de-extinction, personal whim, art, and novel forms of disease prevention. We then discuss the current regulatory framework and its possible limitations in those contexts. We end with questions about some deeper issues raised by the increased human control over life on earth offered by genome editing.

Passing on the right: conservative bioethics is closer than it appears

Like automobiles in the passenger side mirror, conservative bioethics is closer than it appears, and it has joined forces with the neo-conservative movement's rejection of moral relativism and moral pluralism. Leon Kass and about half of the current bioethics council appointed by President Bush form an interlocking world of journals, conferences, presidential advisors and, most notably, bioethics commission staff, all working to promote and extend federal regulation of public morals in the name of preserving real and romanticized societal norms in the face of social evolution wrought by technological change.

The National Bioethics Advisory Commission: bridging the tension between scientific and public policy analysis

During the period between the early 1980s to the mid 1990s, the U.S. was distinguished from most other developed countries by its lack of a national-level public body to assist the government in its policy-making on topics of biomedical ethics. While Canada, Denmark, France, Spain, and other countries regularly sought advice from public commissions on issues ranging from reproductive technologies to euthanasia, the U.S. relied on myriad state commissions, court decisions, and academic bodies. The result was a pattern of policy-making that was slower and more unpredictable than that of its peers. With the 1996 appointment of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) by President Clinton, there has been a change in the process of U.S. public policy development. This article provides an overview of the NBAC and highlights recent areas of focus and related recommendations.

Children by choice: reproductive technologies and the boundaries of personal autonomy

Unlike other countries that regulate assisted reproduction, the US has largely left this field to the domain of professional self-regulation and market preferences. The reason lies both in the confused jurisprudence of reproductive liberty and the paralysing effect of the abortion debate on US politics. The debate surrounding cloning, however, has galvanized both activists and the government to revisit the question of regulation, and recent cases in the US Supreme Court suggest that if the political will to regulate this field is found, governmental authority to intervene in areas such as pre-implantation diagnosis, gamete donation and surrogacy might well be upheld, even in the face of constitutional challenges.