{"id":31601,"date":"2020-03-16T15:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T22:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csws.uoregon.edu\/?p=31601"},"modified":"2020-03-16T15:50:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T22:50:23","slug":"lowthorp-gene-editing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csws-archive.uoregon.edu\/lowthorp-gene-editing\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowthorp calls for caution around gene editing in human embyos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Around the O. Leah Lowthorp is a CSWS faculty affiliate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\n University of Oregon cultural anthropologist is among a 21-member group\n of international researchers and public-interest advocates who have \npublished a strong, cautionary statement about the use of genome editing\n in human embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement emerged from a discussion about \npublic engagement and governance of heritable human genome editing, \nwhich has risen into public debate by the gene-editing tool known as \nCRISPR, at a January 2019 workshop held in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Leah Lowthorp<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leah\n Lowthorp, assistant professor in the UO\u2019s Department of Anthropology, \nwas a co-organizer of the workshop while with the nonprofit Center for \nGenetics and Society under a two-year public fellowship funded by the \nAmerican Council of Learned Societies and Andrew P. Mellon foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our\n Geneva statement aims to stimulate a new type of international dialogue\n around a pressing global issue, especially after the 2018 birth of \ngene-edited babies in China,\u201d said Lowthorp, who joined the UO in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\n aims to raise the social justice implications of the technology and to \ncall for both public inclusion and empowerment,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an \nimportant reminder that the conversation needs to focus on if, not when \nor how, we as a global society will allow the genetic modification of \nfuture generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop brought the voices of social \nscientists, ethicists, life scientists, policy experts and public \ninterest advocates into a conversation long dominated by scientists and \nbioethicists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cGeneva Statement on Heritable Human Genome \nEditing: The Need for Course Correction,\u201d is online ahead of print in \nthe April 1 issue of the journal Trends in Biotechnology. It takes issue\n with misunderstandings and distortions that appear in public discourse \nabout gene-editing technology. The authors urge the use of accurate \ninformation to clarify misconceptions, a meaningful exploration of \nsocial justice and human rights implications, and public involvement in \ndecision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowthorp, also a core member of the UO\u2019s Folklore\n and Public Culture Program, was the primary author on the grant that \nled to the workshop, which was hosted by the Switzerland-based Brocher \nFoundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was drawn to the Center for Genetics and Society by\n its social justice mission, its aspirations to impact public policy and\n a personal interest in genetics,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of my main tasks there\n was to track international policy conversations on heritable human \ngenome editing with the ultimate aim to assess and influence policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\n the UO, Lowthorp is leading a project, based on her time at the center,\n on the online folklore of human genetic and assisted reproductive \ntechnologies. In a 2018 paper in the Journal of American Folklore, \n\u201c#CRISPRfacts, Gene Editing, and Joking in the Twittersphere,\u201d she \nexplored the relationship between the hyperbole and public skepticism of\n scientific claims related to CRISPR technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a folklore \nperspective, examining social media narratives about heritable human \ngenome editing is a way to gauge the wider public’s reaction to science \nand its real-world implications,\u201d she said. \u201cSocial media is also one \npossible avenue of facilitating the public empowerment called for in the\n Geneva statement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More generally, Lowthorp\u2019s research explores \nart as a window onto culture by analyzing the interplay of vernacular \nperformance with social, economic and political change in an \never-shifting modern world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014By Jim Barlow, University Communications<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Around the O. Leah Lowthorp is a CSWS faculty affiliate. A University of Oregon cultural anthropologist is among a 21-member group of international researchers and public-interest advocates who have published a strong, cautionary…<\/p>\n

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