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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Biopolitical Times

CGS’ Gender Justice and Disability Rights Coalition has just released Social Justice and Human Rights Principles for Global Deliberations on Heritable Genome Editing. The Principles explicitly center gender justice, disability rights, and human rights in deliberations addressing heritable genome editing, an arena that has largely been the purview of scientists and bioethicists. The Principles have been endorsed by more than 70 individuals and organizations from around the world.

Heritable genome editing – using CRISPR or other tools to alter...

CGS-authored

Eugenics is widely regarded as a debunked pseudoscience—developed and promoted mostly in Nazi Germany—that fell off the political radar after the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed. In fact, twentieth century eugenics represented the mainstream science of its day and...

Biopolitical Times

Note: This article was originally published in February 2024 in issue 268 of the German-language journal Der Gen-ethische Informationsdienst (GID)...

Biopolitical Times

The 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son was called the “crime of the century” at the time...

Biopolitical Times

Sheep have been domesticated for roughly 12,000 years. Sheep have also been cloned since 1996; Dolly (pictured) was the first...

Note: This article was originally published in February 2024 in issue 268 of the German-language journal Der Gen-ethische Informationsdienst (GID)...

23andMe’s stock price since late 2020

23andMe, the first-off-the-blocks personal genomics company, has been struggling lately. In October, there were...

News

There is a new most expensive drug ever—a gene therapy that costs as much as a Brooklyn brownstone or a Miami mansion, and more than the average person will earn in a lifetime.

Lenmeldy is a gene treatment for metachromatic...

People are discovering the truth about their biological parents with DNA—and learning that incest is far more common than many think.

When Steve Edsel was a boy, his adoptive parents kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings in their bedroom closet...

Scientists have genetically modified isolated microbes for decades. Now, using CRISPR, they intend to target entire microbiomes.

Humans are never alone. Even in a room devoid of other people, they are always in the company of billions of microscopic beings...

Today, Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist Kevin Esvelt is well known for his work on guided evolution technologies—creating systems for evolving biomolecules in the lab and developing techniques to shape the evolutionary trajectories of species in the wild—as well as...

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