Dr John Gillott is a Volunteer Writer at BioNews, and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Open University's Development Policy and Practice group. His PhD research was conducted at Innogen and focused on the changing governance of science, which he explored through a study of human embryo and human tissue research in the UK. He also has a degree in mathematics, and he previously worked as a Policy Officer at Genetic Alliance UK. He is author of Bioscience, Governance and Politics (buy this book from Amazon UK), and coauthor of Science and the Retreat from Reason (buy this book from Amazon UK). He tweets as @gillott_john
I expected people to agree with me. And I expected people to disagree with me. What I didn't expect was for people to agree with me, for me to agree with them, for me to quote them, and then for those people to write as if they were disagreeing with me. It's really disorienting.'..
Genetic differences between people create differences between them in their likelihood of having speech and language problems. Genetic differences between people create differences between them in their likelihood of being homeless. The first sentence is
The last few months of 2013 featured a good deal of public, policy and even Parliamentary debate on genetics, education, and IQ...
Giving evidence to the House of Commons Education Committee, Professor Robert Plomin made some very important points. But he needs to rein in the hyperbole if he wants to make headway in political and policy worlds...
Boris Johnson, Margaret Thatcher, bankers, left-bashing, genetics and IQ — light the blue touch paper and stand back...
Dominic Cummings and Robert Plomin are claiming a great deal about the effect of genetics on intelligence, some of which is sound, some of which is not and some of which is very speculative...
In her commentary in BioNews 707, Professor Alison Murdoch highlighted what she described as cultural problems affecting fertility treatment in the UK. In this commentary I consider some related cultural and governmental issues for embryo research....
The presentation of a public consensus and common purpose between regulator and scientists needs critical scrutiny. In reality, some of the claims made to support this consensus are vigorously contested...
Today's 'Show of Support' for the UK HFE Bill, now before the Commons, to put forward the message to MPs that it is 'vitally important that the legislation is not watered down', raised questions and debate about whether scientists are protesting, lobbying or explaining around the issue (1). But what...
The UK Draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, published recently, explicitly covers a number of uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In this commentary I concentrate on just one - PGD to avoid diseases or disorders with a genetic component. The Draft Bill proposes that a licence can only be granted...
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