CGS in the News

Bay Area Startups Want to Make Genetically Engineered Babies. What Could Go Wrong?

By Grace Won, KQED [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025

In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...

Genetic Selection

Developments in gene-editing technology raise new ethical questions

By [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], KCBS Radio | 11.19.2025

This is Ask An Expert, where every weekday at 9:20am, KCBS Radio is giving you direct access to top experts in various fields. Today: Gene-editing technology allows scientists to work with DNA in unprecedented ways, but there are larger scientific...

U.S. Federal
Gloved hand holding vial of DNA

Privacy Concerns with DNA Ancestry Tests: It's All Fun and Games Until...?

By Kevin Brasler, Consumers' Checkbook [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.15.2019

While it’s fun to submit DNA to a testing service to learn you might be 10 percent Nigerian, Norwegian, or...

Genomics
Mother holding young child

Whom does your DNA belong to? Hint, it’s not just you.

By Eoin O'Carroll, The Christian Science Monitor [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.06.2019

When you submit your DNA to a personal genomics company like Ancestry or 23andme, you’re not just uncovering secrets about...

Genomics
5 men running on a track

Should Athletes Be Allowed to Enhance Their Genes?

By Nick Busca, Medium [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.25.2019

Scientists first developed gene therapy techniques in the 1990s, exploring ways to treat disease by modifying malfunctioning cells. In 1997...

Human Genetic Modification
Human embryo under a microscope on blue background

U.S. researcher says he’s ready to start four pregnancies with ‘three-parent’ embryos

By Emily Mullin, STAT [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.18.2019

Researchers at Columbia University in New York have created embryos containing genetic material from three people and are ready to...

Assisted Reproduction
A colorful image of a fertilized egg.

Two moms and a dad give birth to healthy ‘three-person baby’

By Muri Assuncao, Daily News [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 04.11.2019

Oh baby!

A team of doctors from Greece and Spain announced the birth of a healthy baby boy who was...

Assisted Reproduction
Padlock attached to a DNA strand on a blue background.

Don’t Buy California’s Callous Attempt to Ignore People’s DNA Privacy Rights, EFF Tells Court

By Karen Gullo, Electronic Frontier Foundation [cites CGS and Pete Shanks] | 03.29.2019

Analyzing and indefinitely keeping the DNA profiles of thousands of Californians arrested for felonies, but never charged with a crime...

Policies
White pencil writing a double strand of DNA on a blue background

Scientists Call for a Moratorium on Editing Inherited Genes

By Karen Weintraub, Scientific American [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.13.2019

A group of 18 prominent scientists—including some who helped develop CRISPR–Cas9, the current leading tool for gene editing—issued a call...

Human Genetic Modification
Depiction of CRISPR--purple strand of DNA being cut from them middle of two orange strands

Call For Global Moratorium On Creating Gene-Edited Babies

By Rob Stein , National Public Radio [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.13.2019

A group of prominent scientists and bioethicists is calling for a global moratorium on any new attempts to bring gene-edited...

Human Genetic Modification