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During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Fight over Breast Cancer-Related Patents Continues
Last year, Angelina Jolie made national news after revealing that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy because she had a BRCA1 gene mutation which dramatically increased her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Last week, Myriad Genetics, Inc., a company well known for its breakthrough research showing the connection between BRCA gene mutations and an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer, was at the Federal Circuit defending some of its patents related to the BRCA genes. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes produce proteins which suppress tumors, and consequently people with BRCA mutations are at a greater risk for certain cancers. This case is especially important to Ashkenazi Jews because Jews of Ashkenazi descent are more likely to have harmful BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations than the general public.
Welcome, MK Class of 2012
By Manda Graizel, the Machon Kaplan Program Coordinator.
Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given. The world is judged by grace, yet all is according to the amount of action. —Pirke Avot 3:19
When Personal Safety Proves an Obstacle to Voting
During my senior year of college, I worked as a courtroom advocate at the St. Louis County Domestic Violence Court, a division of the court system that deals exclusively with orders of protection in cases of domestic violence. I worked with petitioners to create or improve their safety plan (i.e. what strategies did they use to keep themselves as safe as possible from their abuser?) and to connect people to resources available in our community, like counseling programs, employment assistance, shelters and transitional housing, and legal services. Throughout my year at the court, I watched hundreds of petitioners share evidence of their abuse before the judge, who asked the same, simple question every time: "Does your abuser’s behavior make you fear for your safety?"
Go Forth To the Polls This Election Day and Make Your Voice Heard
We are less than a week away from Tuesday November 4: Election Day 2014.
The election this fall is a very exciting and important time for voters across the country to make their voices heard, with numerous opportunities to weigh in on races for the House and Senate, state legislature, state executive positions, and mayoral and city council races. In addition, 40 states will also be voting on 139 ballot measures, such as Massachusetts’ Ballot Question 4 on Paid Sick Days and Nebraska’s Initiative 425 on raising the minimum wage. Four states will be voting on minimum wage ballot measures this election day. There are also important ballot initiatives happening in other states: Washington State’s Ballot Initiative I-594 which would require universal background checks for all gun purchases, California's Proposition 47, which would dramatically change California’s criminal justice system, and Tennessee’s Amendment One, which would undo language in the state’s constitution saying that the right to choose is a fundamental right. It is crucial that individuals get to the polls to make their voices heard on these important policy areas!
Praise for Supreme Court Decision in 'Juvenile Life Without Parole' Case
Rabbi Saperstein: "We reaffirm the biblical concept that the criminal is a human being, capable of reshaping his or her life."
Contact: Sean Thibault or Katharine Nasielski
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org
Reform Movement Distressed by Attack in Jerusalem
In response to today's apparent terrorist attack in Jerusalem, the Union for Reform Judaism's President, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, issued the following statement:
Force Feeding, Guantanamo Hunger Strikes, and What Our Rabbis Teach
Torture, while cruel and inhumane, is not something that we often hear about from mainstream media, nor is it something we have written about very recently at the Religious Action Center. The Reform Jewish position on this issue is clear: in a post-9/11 world we understand the need for enhanced national security, and yet we believe that security must be balanced with the importance of civil liberties and bodily autonomy. Experts agree that torturing prisoners or holding them in extended solitary confinement go beyond the practical needs of national security (since torture is found to be an ineffective way to obtain information) and abandon the constitutional right to due process as well as fundamental Jewish values. Nearly six years after President Obama came into office and promised to close Guantanamo Bay, the detention center stays open and the 149 individuals held there remain.
North Dakotans Reject Measure Three
Yesterday, North Dakotans spoke out at the polls and soundly rejected Measure Three, a misguided attempt to implement a state version of a federal law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
A Day in the Life of Machon Kaplan
On Monday night, Machon Kaplan turned up the heat with “Chopped”! Adding fun, flare and competition to communal eating, the RAC provided us with funds and time to cook a fabulous potluck meal.