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

Campus professor Osagie K. Obasogie elected as member to the National Academy of Medicine

By Lydia Sidhom, The Daily Californian [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.20.2021

UC Berkeley professor of law and bioethics Osagie K. Obasogie was elected for membership to the National Academy of Medicine...

Civil Society

Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical?

By Philip Ball, The Guardian [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.17.2021

The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl...

Genomics

a magnifying glass shows a strand of DNA in front of a background of multicolored squares

“Gattaca” and the Ethics of Genetic Selection

By David K. Johnson, The Great Courses Daily [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 09.19.2021

The film Gattaca is set in a world in which gene manipulation is common. When parents decide to have children...

Genetic Selection

Should we edit human embryos' genomes, and if so then how?

By Dieter Egli, BioNews [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 07.12.2021

I recently received a thoughtful letter from a college student I do not know – I'll call her Claudia* –...

Human Genetic Modification

World Health Organization advisers urge global effort to regulate genome editing

By Megan Molteni, STAT [cites CGS] | 07.12.2021

On Monday, a World Health Organization advisory committee called on the world’s largest public health authority to stand by the...

Policies

a scientist doing lab research in a sterile environment

Expanding Biolab Complex in Berkeley Has Residents Worried

By Sharon Lerner, Lee Fang, The Intercept [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.09.2021

The Bayer Corporation has made it clear that the creation of a biological research facility on its waterfront property in Berkeley, California, will...

Bioethics

Change may allow scientists to grow human embryos longer

By Maria Cheng, Associated Press [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.26.2021

New guidelines released Wednesday remove a decades-old barrier to stem cell research, recommending that researchers be allowed to grow human...

Human Genetic Modification

Should scientists be allowed to grow human embryos in a dish beyond 14 days? Is it scientifically important or morally wrong?

By Karen Weintraub, USA Today [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.02.2021

For more than 30 years, scientists have followed a rule they imposed on themselves to avoid growing a human embryo in...

Society