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

A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans

By Katie Hasson | 08.21.2025
Biopolitical Times

If you’ve been online or caught the news in the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across Sydney Sweeney, her “great genes jeans,” and much debate over whether they reflect a resurgence of eugenics in American politics and culture.

In case you missed it, here’s what happened. At the end of July, US-based clothing company American Eagle released a new ad campaign. In one ad, Sweeney breathily recites the following, while lying back to zip up her jeans:

Genes are...

Human Genetic Modification

The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 08.06.2025

Aggregated News

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

Genetic Selection

New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions

By Matteo Zumbano | 08.13.2025
Biopolitical Times

On July 21, the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) released new landmark recommendations for the care of children with trisomy...

Bioethics

The tech billionaires and rogue scientists moving to commercialize CRISPR babies

By Marcy Darnovsky | 06.26.2025
Biopolitical Times

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several...

Genetic Selection

Biopolitical Times

GMWatch on De-Extinction, Designer Babies, Gene Drives and More

By Pete Shanks | 08.21.2025

The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number...

Human Genetic Modification

A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans

By Katie Hasson | 08.21.2025

If you’ve been online or caught the news in the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across Sydney Sweeney, her...

Human Genetic Modification

New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions

By Matteo Zumbano | 08.13.2025

On July 21, the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) released new landmark recommendations for the care of children with trisomy...

Bioethics

News

Denmark issues first apology over forced contraception of Greenlandic women

By Miranda Bryant, The Guardian | 08.27.2025

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has apologised for the first time for the forced contraception scandal in which thousands of Greenlandic girls and women were fitted with contraceptive coils without their permission or knowledge.

Describing it as “systemic discrimination” against...

Society

Scientists Perform First Pig-to-Human Lung Transplant

By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025

Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...

Animal Biotechnologies

This ‘natural’ infertility treatment is backed by Maha. Is it the right’s path to limiting IVF?

By Carter Sherman, The Guardian | 08.23.2025

For Erica L and her husband, in-vitro fertilization was the “nuclear option”.

After two years of trying to conceive, Erica and her husband had no idea why they could not have a baby. Doctors said only that they had “unexplained...

Policies

As Trump Weighs I.V.F., Republicans Back New ‘Natural’ Approach to Infertility

By Caroline Kitchener, The New York Times | 08.21.2025

Less than two weeks after an Alabama Supreme Court decision upended in vitro fertilization in the state and prompted a national backlash, over 100 conservative congressional staff members and I.V.F. skeptics crammed into a meeting room a few blocks from...

Policies

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