Thursday, February 4, 2016

California gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom hasn’t taken a position on CRISPR-Cas9 embryo editing yet; CIRM meets to discuss the issue



California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is running for Governor of California in 2018.  As previously reported on Etopia News, he has not yet taken a position on AB 1681, a bill by California Assemblymember Jim Cooper that would prohibit the seemingly-unbreakable encryption enabled by iOS8 and Android 6.0 for smartphones.

He also hasn’t taken a position on the use of the powerful new CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology when it comes to using it to edit human embryos, as was just approved by the UK’s Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority (HFEA), for an experiment being conducted at the Francis Crick Institute, by Dr. Kathy Niakan and her team, to investigate early embryonic development.

In an e-mail sent today to Etopia News, Rhys Williams, his Chief of Staff, wrote:

“California’s Lt. Governor has not yet reviewed the UK’s HFEA decision. “

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, according to Kevin McCormack, its Sr. Director Public Communications & Patient Advocate Outreach, is today putting on a workshop by its Standards Working Group “that looks at that precise question.”

You can join this workshop’s audio conference at:  800-230-1951.  Use the confirmation number 385423.  The workshop is scheduled to continue until 4:00 pm, PST today.






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