CGS in the News

Ethics changes notwithstanding, creating genetically modified babies is still illegal in SA

By Tamsin Metelerkamp [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Daily Maverick | 11.18.2024

The National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) has confirmed that heritable human genome editing (HHGE) remains illegal in South Africa, after changes in the latest version of the South African Ethics in Health Research Guidelines sparked concern among researchers that...

Genetic Selection

South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing

By Françoise Baylis and Katie Hasson, The Conversation | 10.24.2024

A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit...

Policies

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’

By Hannah Devlin, Tom Burgis, David Pegg, and Jason Wilson, The Guardian [cites CGS’ Katie Hasson] | 10.18.2024

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises...

Genetic Selection

a woman holds up a sign protesting sterilization of women

California’s little-known history of eugenics

By Crystal Qian and Elizabeth Cheng, The Epic [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.03.2022

^{"Women welfare rights activists holding signs protesting

proposed forced sterilization bill outside Tennessee courthouse, 1971,”

Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF)...}

Human Genetic Modification

4 pregnant women dressed in robes, standing in line; grayscale

Safety Concerns For Ukrainian Surrogate Mothers And Babies

By Bianca Facchinei, Newsy [cites CGS' Emily Galpern] | 03.25.2022

^{Photo by Astaken on Flickr}

The war in Ukraine has disrupted trade and threatened the global economy, from oil to...

Other Countries

tweezers are used to take a DNA strand apart

Should we use genome editing to make better babies? Here’s what the experts think

By Tim Brinkhof, Big Think [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.23.2022

George Church is one of the world’s most famous pioneers of genetics and biotechnology. He has made colossal contributions to...

Society

Campus professor Osagie K. Obasogie elected as member to the National Academy of Medicine

By Lydia Sidhom, The Daily Californian [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.20.2021

UC Berkeley professor of law and bioethics Osagie K. Obasogie was elected for membership to the National Academy of Medicine...

Civil Society

Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical?

By Philip Ball, The Guardian [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.17.2021

The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl...

Genomics

a magnifying glass shows a strand of DNA in front of a background of multicolored squares

“Gattaca” and the Ethics of Genetic Selection

By David K. Johnson, The Great Courses Daily [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 09.19.2021

The film Gattaca is set in a world in which gene manipulation is common. When parents decide to have children...

Genetic Selection

Should we edit human embryos' genomes, and if so then how?

By Dieter Egli, BioNews [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 07.12.2021

I recently received a thoughtful letter from a college student I do not know – I'll call her Claudia* –...

Human Genetic Modification

World Health Organization advisers urge global effort to regulate genome editing

By Megan Molteni, STAT [cites CGS] | 07.12.2021

On Monday, a World Health Organization advisory committee called on the world’s largest public health authority to stand by the...

Policies