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We address social and ethical challenges in medicine, healthcare, science, and technology wisely and responsibly.

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Hastings Center News
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Join Us for The Embryo Frontier: Editing Human Life

Gene editing of human embryos could prevent serious genetic disease and improve quality of life in unprecedented ways. But it also raises major ethical concerns. Join us online for a lively debate, April 23.
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Bioethics Forum Essay

AI Toy Story: Potential Benefits and Risks of Chatbot Playmates  

While chatbot toys can seem appealing, they raise safety and ethical concerns.
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Bioethics Forum Essay

In a World with Many Epsteins, Does Ethics Still Matter?

Considering the epidemic of cruelty, corruption, lying, exploitation, abuse, and vulgarity in public life these days emanating from the highest levels of society, why should anyone care about ethics? That question merits a serious response.
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Hastings Center Report
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Patients’ Perspectives Matter in DSM Updates

Mental health patients’ perspectives should be included in DSM revisions.
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Bioethics Forum Essay
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We Would Be Bragging, of Course: American Science on Tour

The Chinese Minister of Health's grand tour around the U.S. in 1980 was a glittering assortment of legendary figures in mid-century medicine and the great scientific institutions. Could we pull off a similar junket today?
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Bioethics Forum Essay
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Genetic Therapies for Rare Diseases: Developing Ethical Regulatory Policies

To boost innovation in gene-based therapies, it is important to address not only scientific, manufacturing, and commercial challenges, but also ethical and regulatory issues.
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Special Reports

Special Reports to the Hastings Center Report present the results of research projects. Reports may be single-authored or collections of essays prepared by members of project working groups, consensus documents, or lively conversations among those who reached differing moral conclusions about a project’s central questions.

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Living with Dementia: Learning from Cultural Narratives of Aging Societies

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Envisioning a More Just Genomics

Bioethics Briefings

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Bioethics Briefings contain overviews of issues of high public interest, such as abortion, racism and health equity, climate change, and medical aid-in-dying. The briefs, written by leading bioethicists, are nonpartisan, describing topics from a range of perspectives that are grounded in scientific facts.

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