Susan Gilbert

Schoolchildren Deserve Better : The Hastings Center for Bioethics One of the Trump administration's latest targets is children's mental health services. Recently, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health and Human

www.thehastingscenter.org/schoolchildr... With attention focused on misinformation about Tylenol and pregnancy, let’s not lose sight of other “baseless” statements from our leaders that put children’s health at risk.

Most troubling part about removing uncomfortable truths from history is the whitewashing that follows. If you disagree, the answer isn’t to erase them,it’s to challenge them w/ thoughtful counterarguments.🤔

NEW HC Bioethics Forum essay by Barron Lerner https://bit.ly/47EEFFN

🎙️ Episode 4 of Bioethics Chats is OUT NOW!

@varditravitsky.bsky.social chats with Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss Professor at UPenn, on the “trifecta of violations of reproductive justice” & what bioethicists & healthcare providers must do to address them. 👩🏾‍⚖️📚

https://bit.ly/45sYBdn

The Price Increases That Should Cause Americans More Alarm - KFF Health News The cost of health insurance is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.

Health insurance premiums for people with employer-provided coverage have more than quadrupled since 1999. From 2023 to 2024 alone, they rose more than 6% for both individuals and family coverage — a steeper increase than that of wages and overall inflation. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

The NIH's longstanding commitment to funding research that uncovers and addresses health disparities has not only advanced our understanding of cancer outcomes across different populations but has also led to improvements that benefit all patients.

Ethical Considerations for First-In-Human Pig Kidney Xenotransplant Clinical Trials : The Hastings Center for Bioethics The first clinical trial transplanting gene-edited pig kidneys into humans could start this year. They raise important ethical issues.

www.thehastingscenter.org/ethical-cons... The first clinical trial involving pig kidney transplants has been approved. There are many ethical issues. Read recommendations on how to address them. New in Hastings Bioethics Forum

AI Can Make You Laugh. But Can It Ever Be Truly Humorous? As people turn to AI for therapy and companionship, some say the models still need to learn the nuances of human humor.

undark.org/2025/07/21/a... Generating some kinds of humor is easier for AI than driving a car safely. Still, much of AI-generated comedy is mediocre. Interesting article by Jyoti Madhusoodanan.

Collecting Migrant Children’s DNA: A Troubling, but Predictable, Trend in the U.S. : The Hastings Center for Bioethics Recent reports reveal that the U.S. government is systematically collecting DNA from migrant children, some as young as 4 years old, and storing it

www.thehastingscenter.org/collecting-m... The latest expansion in the use of DNA samples for law enforcement raises ethical and legal concerns. James Hazel explains.

Sweet Vindication for Stem Cell Research, and American Science : The Hastings Center for Bioethics A small group of people with a severe form of type 1 diabetes have been successfully treated with pancreatic cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. This moment should not pass without recognit...

Can we be sure that the research that is to this achievement would be possible now? Jonathan Moreno’s latest in Hastings Bioethics Forum www.thehastingscenter.org/sweet-vindic...

A Clinical Ethicist Reflects on the Life and Death of a Beloved Pet : The Hastings Center for Bioethics In my role as a clinical ethicist, I regularly explore the risks and benefits of proposed treatments, especially for terminal diseases. But for Sheba this moral question felt unique.

Beautiful piece. Read with a box of tissues. www.thehastingscenter.org/a-clinical-e...

More needs to be made of the distinction between trust and trustworthiness. Lower levels of trust in vaccines and ACIP are more likely a function of attempts to actively undermine trust from the likes of RFK Jr and company, not the trustworthiness of ACIP.

Civil Death: Unethical in 1933 and Today : The Hastings Center for Bioethics The rhyme of history is disturbing, especially when played out by the professionals whom we rely on for ethical leadership, not for unethical manipulation of the law.

www.thehastingscenter.org/civil-death-... Making comparisons with the Nazis and their rise to autocracy is tricky, but we must learn from history.

🚨 Hastings in the spotlight! 🚨

HC President Vardit Ravitsky featured on 60 Minutes, where she discusses the growing trend of #eggfreezing and the opportunities and risks it raises about pausing the biological clock. 🧬⏳

Watch: cbsn.ws/3Z1owoI

#Bioethics

To Make America Healthy Again, Stop Divesting from Science Proposed cuts to federal research funding and attacks on universities imperil the longstanding global leadership of the United States in scientific and medical discoveries and raise profound bioethica...

Latest in Hastings Bioethics Forum by RobertKlitzman.bsky.social www.thehastingscenter.org/to-make-amer...

Bioethics: Back to the USSR? Will bioethics continue to exist and in what form? In the United States, where the discipline is most developed and institutionalized, it is under pressure.

Will bioethics continue to exist and in what form? It’s under pressure in the US. www.thehastingscenter.org/bioethics-ba...

De-extinction is Here. Now What? Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company, announced that it has achieved a scientific first -- bringing back an extinct animal: the dire wolf. Crucial questions emerge about scientific hubris, pl...

Bringing back extinct Animals: my essay via @hastingscenter.bsky.social www.thehastingscenter.org/de-extinctio...

This is a terrific essay, from the heart and mind.

What 23andMe Owes its Users With concern about its stability, 23andMe should consider what information and protection it owes its users. So should other DTC genetic testing companies.

Now that 23andme has filed for bankruptcy, here’s what to know about protecting your data. www.thehastingscenter.org/what-23andme...

Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed in the U.S., more so than in other wealthy countries! 💊 💰 What prices can be ethically justified? 💭 New chapter in our Bioethics Briefings. READ, bit.ly/41Xyt7i

#HastingsCenter #Bioethics #DrugPricing #Healthcare

Heavy Metal Bioethics I had never thought much about Alzheimer’s disease, other than to hope that I never suffer from it. But after attending a heavy metal concert, that condition began to weigh on my heart and mind. The s...

www.thehastingscenter.org/heavy-metal-... Can listening to heavy metal, or any music, make bioethicists better at what they do? This bioethicist-drummer thinks so.

Terri Schiavo’s Legacy Many think that the decision 20 years ago to permit Terri Schiavo to die was a victory for medical choice. On the contrary, her death triggered a series of events that have corroded individual control...

www.thehastingscenter.org/terri-schiav...
The Schiavo case became a battlefield in the larger culture war playing out to this day. @artcap.bsky.social dominicsisti.bsky.social

Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement.

Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections

www.propublica.org/article/legi...

"championed by companies that make and use chemicals, along with industry groups that have long opposed environmental rules"

The CDC, under RFK Jr., will research the widely-debunked, nonexistent link between vaccines and autism.

The move comes during the worst measles outbreak in the U.S. in the past five years. @msnbc.com

I was an incarcerated nursing assistant during Covid. This is what I saw “It’s not an understatement to say prisoner CNAs are the backbone of the prison medical system. For this work, we earned $1.75 a day,” writes Abraham Santiago.

Very moving and revealing.

www.statnews.com/2025/03/06/c...

MAGA Newspaper Owner’s AI Bot Defends KKK An AI-generated summary tried to offer “different views” on the hate group.

This is so spectacularly idiotic and a dereliction of duty as an owner of a newspaper that doesn't have a publisher and has been stuck in labor negotiations for over two years.
www.thedailybeast.com/maga-newspap...

Hundreds Gather at National Parks Across U.S. to Protest Job Cuts From Acadia in Maine to Joshua Tree in Southern California, protesters turned out to stand up against what they see as threats to public lands.

Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday at national parks from California to Maine to protest the Trump administration’s firing of at least 1,000 National Park Service employees last month.

HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’ The CDC was ordered to shelve promotions it developed for a variety of vaccines after Health Secretary RFK Jr. said he wants message focused on "informed consent."

HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’ Story by @helenbranswell.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/c...

Graduate student admissions paused and cut back as universities react to Trump orders on research In response to Trump science policies, universities are accepting fewer graduate students than normal and freezing positions, STAT has learned.

NEW: Trump actions on science may affect a generation as pauses + cuts in graduate admissions begin. “We had just flown them out, we told them we love you, we want to admit you, and then everything just stopped." "It's freezing everybody into inaction."
www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/t...

i feel like it's an open question whether or not the flu vaccine will even be available next season

Yup