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

Taking a closer look at recent reporting on gene-edited embryos

By Katie Hasson | 07.11.2026
Biopolitical Times

Media coverage of recent developments in embryo gene editing might seem to suggest that gene-edited babies are close to becoming a reality. As tech billionaires eager to profit off of techno-eugenics invest in “designer baby” technologies, attempts to normalize heritable genome editing – which remains unsafe and raises significant ethical and societal concerns – are especially dangerous. It’s worth taking a closer look at these developments and what they mean, in a way that pushes back on narratives normalizing the...

Genomics

Palantir Has a Hand in NIH’s Most Ambitious Health Initiative

By Julia Métraux, Mother Jones [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 07.07.2026

Aggregated News

During his 2015 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama announced what he promised would be an ambitious public health project. “Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes...

U.S. Federal

Book Review: How to Rule the World

By Pete Shanks | 07.10.2026
Biopolitical Times

The title of this book is clever, not least because it is borrowed from a very secret society of a...

Patents & Other IP

‘I didn’t come here to get rich’: new research on the lives of Ukrainian women in Georgia’s surrogacy boom

By Olga Oleinikova, Medea Badashvili, and Polina Vlasenko | 04.23.2026
Biopolitical Times

“I didn’t come here to get rich. I came because I had no other way to keep my son safe...

Other Countries

Biopolitical Times

Taking a closer look at recent reporting on gene-edited embryos

By Katie Hasson | 07.11.2026

Media coverage of recent developments in embryo gene editing might seem to suggest that gene-edited babies are close to becoming...

Genomics

Book Review: How to Rule the World

By Pete Shanks | 07.10.2026

The title of this book is clever, not least because it is borrowed from a very secret society of a...

Patents & Other IP

Faster, Higher, Stronger? The Enhanced Games Fall Flat

By Pete Shanks | 06.04.2026

Faster, Higher, Stronger was the Olympic motto from 1874 until 2001, when “ – Together” was added, to stress...

Human Genetic Modification

News

This Lifesaving Genetics Tool Works Best if You’re White

By Emily Baumgaetner Nunn, The New York Times | 07.20.2026

The National Institutes of Health recently announced a remarkable achievement: the world’s largest database of human genomes, a repository of information that the agency says will help usher in a new era in personalized medicine.

Scientists are already developing clinical...

Human Genetic Modification

Why Mexico is at the heart of ethical debate over global surrogacy

By Oscar Lopez, The Guardian | 07.19.2026

Diogo Amaro met his future husband, Loup, in Paris and from the first date, he made one thing clear: he wanted to have children.

“Right off the bat, I was like: ‘If I’m going to be in a relationship with...

Other Countries

A friend, Facebook or ... Ukraine? No easy surrogacy options for Australian families desperate for children

By Tory Shepherd, The Guardian | 07.17.2026

Over eight years, Ethan and his wife went through nine rounds of IVF in Melbourne.

They travelled to Spain for two more, without success.

“I thought maybe the universe had decided we’re not supposed to have kids,” says Ethan, who...

Assisted Reproduction

Embryo personhood, once on the margins of abortion debates, is moving closer to the center

By Risa Cromer, The Conversation | 07.17.2026

About 100,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in 2024, according to the most recent U.S. data. But IVF commonly involves trying to create multiple embryos, because success is never guaranteed. If unused, those embryos can be frozen...

Genetic Selection

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