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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These companies help parents try to pick their babies' traits. Experts are wary

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026

Aggregated News

Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.

"These are saliva samples as well as blood," says Schleede, a geneticist who runs Herasight Inc.'s lab in Morrisville, N.C. "We also...

Genetic Selection

Faster, Higher, Stronger? The Enhanced Games Fall Flat

By Pete Shanks | 06.04.2026
Biopolitical Times

Faster, Higher, Stronger was the Olympic motto from 1874 until 2001, when “ – Together” was added, to stress the “moral and educational perspective” of the Games. The folks who paid for or participated in the Enhanced Games – the name itself a nod to the Olympics – held in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 24, apparently use a different edit: 

Faster, Higher, Stronger with Chemistry

High-level sport draws huge crowds. Coming very soon, the soccer World Cup, featuring...

Human Genetic Modification

The start-ups dreaming of creating genetically modified babies

By Alexandre Piquard, Le Monde [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.22.2026

Aggregated News

"If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of...

U.S. Federal

The Measured Listener

By Daniel Shanahan, Los Angeles Review of Books | 05.31.2026

Aggregated News

This is the 15th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring...

U.S. States

Biopolitical Times

Faster, Higher, Stronger? The Enhanced Games Fall Flat

By Pete Shanks | 06.04.2026

Faster, Higher, Stronger was the Olympic motto from 1874 until 2001, when “ – Together” was added, to stress...

Human Genetic Modification

‘I didn’t come here to get rich’: new research on the lives of Ukrainian women in Georgia’s surrogacy boom

By Olga Oleinikova, Medea Badashvili, and Polina Vlasenko | 04.23.2026

“I didn’t come here to get rich. I came because I had no other way to keep my son safe...

Other Countries

Serial Entrepreneur and “Frankenstein’s” Ex Launches (Another) New Germline Editing Startup

By Pete Shanks | 03.26.2026

Cathy Tie seems to be good at starting businesses but not so dedicated to maintaining them. CGS, like many others...

Policies

News

Key findings of the 'Fertility, Embryo Research and Genome Editing' report

By Sarah Norcross, Sandy Starr, Amanda Cooney, and Anneliese Burton, BioNews | 07.06.2026

Our report Fertility, Embryo Research and Genome Editing: Public Attitudes in Europe explores public attitudes to fertility treatment, embryo research, genome editing, donor conception, surrogacy and related topics in four European countries – the UK, the Netherlands, ...

Genetic Selection

The Guardian view on gene-edited humans: darker uses must be acknowledged alongside medical ones

By Editorial Staff, The Guardian | 07.05.2026

Ever since Crispr-Cas9 gene-editing technology emerged in the early 2010s, ethical questions around genetically altered humans, so-called designer babies, have become increasingly urgent. There is already a worldwide legal prohibition. No country currently allows human germline editing (meaning genetic changes...

Human Genetic Modification

Is Kidmaxxing the Ultimate Status Symbol for Ultimate Wealth?

By Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 07.01.2026

Birthrates in much of the developed world are at record lows, but there’s one demographic group that’s exploring new frontiers of fertility: ultrawealthy men. Deploying nearly limitless resources, a small number of them are reproducing at such an extraordinary scale...

Genetic Selection

‘There’s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?’: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind AI

By Robert P. Baird, The Guardian | 06.30.2026

In 2017, a 33-year-old political philosopher named Iason Gabriel was told by a friend that he ought to apply for a job at DeepMind, the London-based subsidiary of Google where much of its AI research was concentrated. The suggestion was not...

A "Post-Human" Future?

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