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

The New Artificial Intelligentsia

By Ruha Benjamin, Los Angeles Review of Books | 10.18.2024

IN THE FALL OF 2016, I gave a talk at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton titled “Are Robots...

A "Post-Human" Future?

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

Ethics Washing: The Misappropriation of Ubuntu in the Ethics of Heritable Human Genome Editing (HHGE)

By Anye Nyamnjoh, EthicsLab | 11.15.2024

In their argument for equal access to heritable human genome editing (HHGE) as a healthcare service for future generations...

Other Countries

Elon Musk Has Always Been Like This. So Has Silicon Valley.

By Colette Shade, The New Republic | 11.14.2024

^{Photo "Elon Musk" by Daniel Oberhaus on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)}

Would Donald Trump have won reelection if not for...

Policies

Kennedy’s F.D.A. Wish List: Raw Milk, Stem Cells, Heavy Metals

By Christina Jewett, The New York Times | 11.12.2024

^{"Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Legends Event Center in Phoenix, Arizona."...}

U.S. Federal

Fertility agencies accused of promoting eugenics with embryo selection

By Ewan Bolton, The Telegraph | 11.12.2024

Fertility agencies offering embryo selection for IVF and surrogacy have been accused of promoting eugenics and misleading consumers about the...

Genetic Selection

Opening the Door to ‘Designer Babies’? South Africa’s Genome Editing Guidelines Spark Global Debate

By Bernice Lottering, Gene Online | 11.08.2024

South Africa’s updated health-research ethics guidelines, which now include heritable human genome editing, have sparked concern among scientists. The revisions...

Assisted Reproduction