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.

Featured

Breeding for IQ

By Emily R. Klancher Merchant, Los Angeles Review of Books | 08.22.2024

Aggregated News

IN THE Operation Varsity Blues scandal of 2019, 50 wealthy parents were charged with trying to get their children into elite universities through fraudulent means. The story dramatically demonstrated the lengths to which some parents will go to ensure their...

Genetic Selection

Professor Osagie K. Obasogie’s ‘Legacies of Eugenics’ Project

By Gwyneth Shaw, Berkeley Law | 08.23.2024

Aggregated News

In this episode, host Gwyneth Shaw talks to Professor Osagie K. Obasogie, a professor of law and bioethics and the only UC Berkeley faculty member to hold an appointment at both our law school and our School of Public...

Human Genetic Modification

Human Biotech is in the News: We Need to Talk

By Pete Shanks | 09.25.2024
Biopolitical Times

Reproductive rights have been a flashpoint in national politics for decades, with the stakes surging after the Supreme Court shredded...

Assisted Reproduction

Dawn of the Silicon Valley Superbaby

By Julia Black and Margaux MacColl, The Information [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 07.19.2024

Aggregated News

When venture capitalist Jack Abraham first began dating his wife, Gabriella Massamillo, he insisted on one condition: that when they...

Genetic Selection

Biopolitical Times

Trump’s Eugenic Fantasies

By Pete Shanks | 10.08.2024

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

On October 7, Donald Trump’s long-standing...

Civil Society

Human Biotech is in the News: We Need to Talk

By Pete Shanks | 09.25.2024

Reproductive rights have been a flashpoint in national politics for decades, with the stakes surging after the Supreme Court shredded...

Assisted Reproduction

Update on Polling about Human Biotechnologies

By Pete Shanks | 08.26.2024

It has been for years a truth universally acknowledged that heritable human genome editing – “designer baby” technology –  should...

Biopolitics

News

IVF will be covered by insurance for many Californians after Newsom signs bill

By Mackenzie Mays, Los Angeles Times | 10.29.2024

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Sunday that requires large health insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization — a win for reproductive health advocates amid nationwide concerns about the future of access to fertility treatments.

The bill also...

Policies

Revealed: International ‘race science’ network secretly funded by US tech boss

By David Pegg, Tom Burgis, Hannah Devlin and Jason Wilson, The Guardian | 10.16.2024

An international network of “race science” activists seeking to influence public debate with discredited ideas on race and eugenics has been operating with secret funding from a multimillionaire US tech entrepreneur.

Undercover filming has revealed the existence of the organisation...

Other Countries

Italy Criminalizes Surrogacy From Abroad, a Blow to Gay and Infertile Couples

By Emma Bubola, The New York Times | 10.16.2024

Photo of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from CPAC 2022 con Hermann Tertsch y Victor Gonzalez by Vox España licensed under CC 1.0

Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government...

Policies

‘Anonymous’ genetic databases vulnerable to privacy leaks

By Helena Kudiabor, Nature | 10.14.2024

A study has raised concerns that a type of genetic database that is increasingly popular with researchers could be exploited to reveal the identities of its participants, or link private health information to their public genetic profiles.

Single-cell data sets...

Genomics

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