Debating UK approval of gene editing in human embryos<br> [MP3]
By Flagged
| 02. 01. 2016
[With CGS's Marcy Darnovsky]
Download audio (MP3)
In a landmark decision that some ethicists warned is a step down the path toward "designer babies," Britain gave scientists approval Monday to conduct experiments in which they will try to edit the genes in human embryos.
Host: Larry Mantle
Guests:
- Ronald Bailey, Science Correspondent for “Reason” magazine and Reason.com; Author of “The End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-first Century”
- Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human genetic, reproductive, and biomedical technologies
More info:
Related Articles
By Laura Hughes, Financial Times | 05.20.2026
Sophie and her husband are set to spend more than £100,000 in travel and medical bills as they fly between England and the US in their bid to have another child.
The couple are undergoing IVF treatment in New York...
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times | 05.25.2026
In a small, preliminary study, an experimental gene-editing treatment dramatically lowered cholesterol levels, perhaps permanently, after just one infusion, scientists reported on Monday.
If confirmed in larger studies, researchers hope the findings may lead to a one-and-done way to prevent...
By Nanette Elster, Kayhan Parsi, and Art Caplan, The American Journal of Bioethics | 05.06.2026
“Better babies.” “Fitter families.” “Survival of the fittest.” “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” These phrases are not merely historical reminders of the United States’ regrettable eugenic past but are appearing in an increasingly eugenic present. Eugenics may have seemed...
By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2026
Justin Schleede reaches onto a black lab bench to pick up a tray of small plastic tubes.
"These are saliva samples as well as blood," says Schleede, a geneticist who runs Herasight Inc.'s lab in Morrisville, N.C. "We also...