The Center for Genetics and Society brings social justice and human rights to the center of public and policy discussions about human genetics and assisted reproduction.

Featured

A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans

By Katie Hasson | 08.21.2025
Biopolitical Times

If you’ve been online or caught the news in the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across Sydney Sweeney, her “great genes jeans,” and much debate over whether they reflect a resurgence of eugenics in American politics and culture.

In case you missed it, here’s what happened. At the end of July, US-based clothing company American Eagle released a new ad campaign. In one ad, Sweeney breathily recites the following, while lying back to zip up her jeans:

Genes are...

Human Genetic Modification

The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 08.06.2025

Aggregated News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

Genetic Selection

New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions

By Matteo Zumbano | 08.13.2025
Biopolitical Times

On July 21, the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) released new landmark recommendations for the care of children with trisomy...

Bioethics

The tech billionaires and rogue scientists moving to commercialize CRISPR babies

By Marcy Darnovsky | 06.26.2025
Biopolitical Times

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several...

Genetic Selection

Biopolitical Times

GMWatch on De-Extinction, Designer Babies, Gene Drives and More

By Pete Shanks | 08.21.2025

The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number...

Human Genetic Modification

A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans

By Katie Hasson | 08.21.2025

If you’ve been online or caught the news in the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across Sydney Sweeney, her...

Human Genetic Modification

New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions

By Matteo Zumbano | 08.13.2025

On July 21, the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) released new landmark recommendations for the care of children with trisomy...

Bioethics

News

George Church’s lab gets closer to creating human eggs in a dish, and a new startup plans to finish the job

By Ryan Cross, Endpoints News | 08.19.2025

Human eggs are incredibly rare cells. The ovary typically produces only 400 mature eggs across a woman’s life. But biologists in George Church’s lab at Harvard University — a group that’s never content with nature’s limits — just got a...

Assisted Reproduction

Cancelling mRNA studies is the highest irresponsibility

By Editors, Nature | 08.15.2025

A technology that played a key part in saving millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic1 should be feted to the skies. Instead, US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced last week that the US federal government is...

U.S. Federal

Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn’t Trust the Pronatalist Movement

By Staff, National Women's Law Center | 08.13.2025

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Human Genetic Modification

If it’s time to revisit the 14-day rule, it’s also time to engage the public

By Molly Gray, Nuffield Council on Bioethics | 08.13.2025

Human embryo at about 8 weeks
by Anatomist90, CC3.0

With debate growing around whether the “14-day rule” on human embryo research remains fit for purpose, the need for inclusive public dialogue is more important than ever. Decisions about whether...

Policies

Video
Reproduction and Family Formation: The State and the Market
Use Gene Editing to Make Better Babies | Debate | Intelligence Squared U.S.
The 'Perfect' Baby?: The Dangers of Gene Editing in Assisted Reproduction