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

Gene Editing Cannot Be Separated From The Violent History of Eugenics and Medical Racism

By Jude Casimir, Wear Your Voice [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.27.2020

Henrietta Lacks visited John Hopkins Hospital in 1951, complaining of vaginal bleeding. A mother of five children, Lacks was diagnosed by gynecologist...

Policies

Californians Asked to Pony Up for Stem Cell Research — Again

By Rachel Bluth, California Healthline [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.21.2020

SACRAMENTO — In an election year dominated by a chaotic presidential race and splashy statewide ballot initiative campaigns, Californians are...

Policies

Election Guide: Here's What You Need to Know About Proposition 14

By Terry McSweeney, NBC Bay Area [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.04.2020

Proposition 14 on the November ballot asks voters to approve $5.5 billion to continue funding stem cell research in California...

Policies

Your ‘Ethnicity Estimate’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does

By Caitlin Harrington, Wired [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.02.2020

WHEN THE GENEALOGY company Ancestry released the latest update to its “ethnicity estimates” last month, a lot of people suddenly became...

Society

Clean Slate Endorsements, Fall 2020

By Guardian Editorial, San Francisco Bay Guardian [cites CGS] | 10.01.2020

We were for Bernie. We think he would have won in 2016 and would win this year.

But it’s not...

Society

Should California Put $5.5 Billion Into Stem Cell Research? Voters To Decide With Prop. 14.

By Sammy Caiola, CapRadio [cites Center for Genetics and Society] | 09.18.2020

A measure on the November ballot would allow California to issue $5.5 billion in bonds to fund stem cell research...

Policies

California Stem Cell Measure Scrutinized in Virus Budget Crunch

By Joyce E. Cutler and Tiffany Stecker, Bloomberg Government | 09.17.2020

California voters will be asked this November to spend big on stem cell research, an expensive proposition that could help...

Policies

Strict new guidelines lay out a path to heritable human gene editing

By Tina Hesman Saey, Science News [cites CGS's Katie Hasson] | 09.03.2020

^{In 2018, Jiankui He (pictured) announced that he had edited genes in embryos to create two baby girls.}

Gene editing...

Policies