Biopolitical Times

The Center for Genetics and Society blog highlights the latest developments in the social, political, and ethical implications of human biotechnologies, with contributions from staff, fellows, consultants, and guest authors.

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What is the legal status of heritable human genome editing (HHGE)? In 2020, a comprehensive policy analysis by Baylis, Darnovsky, Hasson, and Krahn documented that more than 70 countries and an international treaty prohibit it, and that no country explicitly permits it. Policies in some countries were non-existent, ambiguous, or subject to possible amendment, but the general rule remained, even after one...

Biopolitical Times

Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore  is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

On October 7, Donald Trump’s long-standing promotion of eugenics finally attracted widespread and prominent media attention. Here are a few examples, all posted just in the first hours after Trump’s harangue on a radio podcast about immigrants’ genetic propensity to murder:

  • ‘Very sinister’: Trump stuns Republicans and Dems with on-air ‘bad genes’ rant, Kathleen Culliton, Raw Story, 10/7, 10:15 am
  • Saying immigrants bring ‘bad genes’ echoes...

Gig work in childcare, nursing, and transportation; non-invasive prenatal testing; gene editing; and space expeditions can all be attributed to one mistaken, pervasive assumption: that “we can innovate our way out of the thorniest problems, including reproductive ones” (22). In...

Reproductive rights have been a flashpoint in national politics for decades, with the stakes surging after the Supreme Court shredded the right to an abortion. In the current presidential campaign,  the battle over abortion has swelled and morphed to encompass...