Council for Responsible Genetics

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The Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG) was a nonprofit NGO with a focus on biotechnology.

History[]

The Council for Responsible Genetics was founded in 1983 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

An early voice concerned about the social and ethical implications of modern genetic technologies, CRG organized a 1985 Congressional Briefing and a 1986 panel of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, both focusing on the potential dangers of genetically engineered biological weapons.^[1] Francis Boyle was asked to draft legislation setting limits on the use of genetic engineering, leading to the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989.^[2]

CRG was the first organization to advance a comprehensive, scientifically based position against human germline engineering.^[3] It was also the first to compile documented cases of genetic discrimination, laying the intellectual groundwork for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA).^[1]

The organization created both a Genetic Bill of Rights and a Citizen's Guide to Genetically Modified Food. Also notable are CRG's support for the "Safe Seeds Campaign" (for avoiding gene flow from genetically engineered to non-GE seed) and the organization of a US conference on Forensic DNA Databanks and Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.^[1] In 2010 CRG led a successful campaign to roll back a controversial student genetic testing program at the University of California, Berkeley.^[4] In 2011, CRG led a campaign to successfully enact [CalGINA] in California, which extended genetic privacy and nondiscrimination protections to life, disability and long term care insurance, mortgages, lending and other areas.^{[citation needed]}

CRG issued five anthologies of commentaries:

• Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age edited by Sheldon Krimsky and Peter Shorett^[1]
• Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth and Culture^[1]
• Genetic Explanations: Sense and Nonsense edited by Krimsky and Jeremy Gruber^[1]
• Biotechnology in our Lives edited by Krimsky and Gruber^[1]
• The GMO Deception edited by Krimsky and Gruber^[1]
• Principles and projects

CRG "fosters public debate about the social, ethical and environmental implications of genetic technologies." They list three central principles:^[1]

• The public must have access to clear and understandable information on technological innovations.
• The public must be able to participate in public and private decision making concerning technological developments and their implementation.
• New technologies must meet social needs. Problems rooted in poverty, racism, and other forms of inequality, according to CRG, cannot be remedied by technology alone.

In 2007, CRG hosted a retreat to refresh the mission statement and determine goals for the future of the organization. The outcome was that CRG should:

• Explore and document developments in biotechnology through a holistic approach that considers science within a social, cultural, ethical, and environmental context.^{[who said this?]}
• Serve as a global knowledge resource, providing information and education about the potential impact of new and emerging biotechnologies.^{[who said this?]}
• Develop concrete policy solutions to address what CRG feels are emerging issues in biotechnology.^{[who said this?]}
• Mobilize and collaborate with scientists and other organizations to inform the public and promote democratic control of science.^{[who said this?]}
• Expose what CRG views as over-simplified and distorted claims regarding the role of genetics in human disease, development and behavior.^{[who said this?]}

The pioneering contributions of CRG to public interest initiatives concerned with appropriate use of biotechnologies are recounted in the book Biotech Juggernaut: Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial Bioscience (Routledge, 2019).

GeneWatch[]

The CRG publishes Genewatch,^[5] America's first and (according to CRG in 2009) only magazine dedicated to monitoring biotechnology's social, ethical and environmental consequences. The publication covers a broad spectrum of issues, from genetically modified food to biological weapons, genetic privacy and discrimination, reproductive technology, and human cloning.^[1] Established in 1983,^[6] the publication won the Utne Independent Press Award for General Excellence in the category of newsletters in 2006.^[7]

Funding[]

A major source of CRG's funding is the Ford Foundation, which provided $420,000 in grants during 2005-2007.^[8]

See also[]

• Bioethics
• Genomics

References[]

External links[]

• Official website