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

Groundbreaking principles on heritable genome editing bring social justice voices to the fore

By Emily Galpern, Guest Contributor | 02.14.2024
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...

Global Governance

Eugenics is Back: In a range of new flavors

By Anne Rumberger and Marcy Darnovsky, Science for the People | 02.29.2024

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...

Assisted Reproduction

Germline Editing: Made in Germany?

By Isabelle Bartram, Guest Contributor | 03.13.2024
Biopolitical Times

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

Assisted Reproduction

Why the Newest Lindbergh Baby Conspiracy Theory Isn’t All That Out There from a Disability History Perspective

By Emily Beitiks, Guest Contributor | 02.09.2024
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...

Eugenics

Biopolitical Times

Challenging the Legacies of Eugenics in Science, Medicine, and Technology

By CGS | 04.17.2024

CGS is excited to announce the launch of a new anti-eugenics initiative that has been years in the making. Legacies...

Society

Hunting Cloned Sheep and Other Post-Modern Biotech Absurdities

By Pete Shanks | 03.19.2024

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

Animal Biotechnologies

Germline Editing: Made in Germany?

By Isabelle Bartram, Guest Contributor | 03.13.2024

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

Assisted Reproduction

News

How to Avoid a Genetic Arms Race

By Yelena Biberman and Jonathan D. Moreno, Bioethics Forum | 04.16.2024

A quiet biological revolution in warfare is underway. The genome is emerging as a new domain of conflict. The level of destruction that only nuclear weapons could previously achieve is fast becoming as accessible as a cyberattack.

Now for the...

Genomics

We Need to be Ready for Biotech’s ChatGPT Moment

By Eric Schmidt, TIME | 04.16.2024

Imagine a world where everything from plastics to concrete is produced from biomass. Personalized cell and gene therapies prevent pandemics and treat previously incurable genetic diseases. Meat is lab-grown; enhanced nutrient grains are climate-resistant. This is what the future could...

Patents & Other IP

The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence

By Timnit Gebru and Émile P. Torres, First Monday | 04.14.2024

The stated goal of many organizations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), an imagined system with more intelligence than anything we have ever seen. Without seriously questioning whether such a system can...

Genetic Selection

This Woman Will Decide Which Babies Are Born

By Jason Kehe, Wired | 04.11.2024

God help the babies! Or, absent God, a fertility startup called Orchid. It offers prospective parents a fantastical choice: Have a regular baby or have an Orchid baby. A regular baby might grow up and get cancer. Or be born...

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