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.

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Biopolitical Times

GATTACA was released in 1997, but — remarkably — is even more relevant now than it was then, as the technologies whose social implications it explores have developed considerably. 

On Thursday, June 13, the California Film Institute presented GATTACA to a sold-out house at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center as part of their Science on Screen series. CGS Associate Director Katie Hasson offered framing for the film and participated in a Q+A discussion.

The film’s plot explicitly involves...

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Image by Gennie Stafford from Flickr

These days, it’s a rare scientist who would admit to working in eugenics.

The word conjures historical horrors: mass sterilization of people judged unfit to reproduce, state anti-miscegenation laws, and Germany’s justification for the...

Biopolitical Times

Note: As of June 27, 2024, the Social Justice and Human Rights Principles for Global Deliberations on Heritable Genome Editing...

Biopolitical Times

Louise Perry’s recent article in The Spectator cautions against “The quiet return of eugenics,” a threat she locates in preimplantation...

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Image by Nick Youngson from Pix4free

Darius is 15 years old and is a dazzling example of how medical research has advanced. Born with a rare and lethal genetic disease, early active cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy — CALD, the same condition...

Biological models of human embryos that can develop heartbeats, spinal cords and other distinctive features will be governed by a code of practice in Britain to ensure that researchers work on them responsibly.

Made from stem cells, they mimic, to...

Image by Ed Uthman from Flickr

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy procedures that can treat and, in some cases essentially cure sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that causes pain and...

Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash

Japan’s supreme court has ordered the government to pay damages to dozens of people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law, saying the practice had violated their constitutional rights.

Wednesday’s ruling by...

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