CGS in the News

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

By Grace Won, KQED Forum [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
Home DNA testing

Your ‘Ethnicity Estimate’ Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does

By Caitlin Harrington, Wired [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.02.2020

WHEN THE GENEALOGY company Ancestry released the latest update to its “ethnicity estimates” last month, a lot of people suddenly became...

Society
2020 elections

Clean Slate Endorsements, Fall 2020

By Guardian Editorial, San Francisco Bay Guardian [cites CGS] | 10.01.2020

We were for Bernie. We think he would have won in 2016 and would win this year.

But it’s not...

Society
An embryonic stem cell

Should California Put $5.5 Billion Into Stem Cell Research? Voters To Decide With Prop. 14.

By Sammy Caiola, CapRadio [cites Center for Genetics and Society] | 09.18.2020

A measure on the November ballot would allow California to issue $5.5 billion in bonds to fund stem cell research...

Policies

California Stem Cell Measure Scrutinized in Virus Budget Crunch

By Joyce E. Cutler and Tiffany Stecker, Bloomberg Government | 09.17.2020

California voters will be asked this November to spend big on stem cell research, an expensive proposition that could help...

Policies
He Jiankui

Strict new guidelines lay out a path to heritable human gene editing

By Tina Hesman Saey, Science News [cites CGS's Katie Hasson] | 09.03.2020

In 2018, Jiankui He (pictured) announced that he had edited genes in embryos to create two baby girls.

Gene editing...

Policies
DNA sequencing lab

Genome editing for heritable diseases not yet safe, report states

By Ian Sample, The Guardian [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 09.03.2020

Powerful genome editing procedures that could prevent parents from passing on heritable diseases to their children are far from ready...

Human Genetic Modification
Man signing documents

Landmark Privacy Proposal To Give Consumers Control Over Their Genetic Data Advances To Governor Newsom’s Desk For Signature

By George Thomas, The Government Center Gazette [cites CGS] | 09.01.2020

SACRAMENTO, CA — Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana) announced today that his measure, Senate Bill 980 (SB 980)  passed the California...

Policies
Seal of California

$5.5 billion stem cell rescue plan makes November ballot

By David Jensen, Capitol Weekly [cites CGS and Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.22.2020

A $5.5 billion stem cell bond measure qualified this afternoon for the November ballot, but the campaign to win voter...

Stem Cells