News

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

Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.

By Emily Glazer, Katherine Long, Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal | 11.08.2025

For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.

Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called...

Genetic Selection

Who Gets to Procreate and Parent? A Black Feminist Critique of the Pronatalist Agenda

By Jallicia A. Jolly, Sydney Curtis and Nicole Sessions, Ms. Magazine | 10.17.2025

Pronatalism is an old idea with roots in eugenics and nationalism, that is now fashionable among far-right influencers and policymakers. They talk...

U.S. Federal

Does One Size Fit All?

By Jay S. Kaufman, Los Angeles Review of Books | 09.27.2025

This is the 10th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring...

Society

needle penetrating a cluster of blue cells

Russian ‘CRISPR-Baby’ Scientist has Started Editing Genes in Human Eggs with Goal of Altering Deaf Gene

By David Cyranoski, Nature | 10.18.2019

Russian biologist Denis Rebrikov has started gene editing in eggs donated by women who can hear to learn how to...

Human Genetic Modification

Photo of the Russian flag and a blue sky with clouds

Calling Embryo Editing 'Premature,' Russian Authorities Seek to Ease Fears of a Scientist Going Rogue

By Olga Dobrovidova, STAT | 10.16.2019

MOSCOW — Russian health officials are playing down international concerns that a Moscow researcher plans to create gene-edited babies any...

Human Genetic Modification

World map with a blue arrow indicating a market increase

How Big Is the Fertility Services Sector?

By Alison Motluk, Hey Reprotech! | 10.15.2019

Sometimes when I'm bored, I find myself Googling things like "value of global fertility services market 2019."

The estimates that...

Assisted Reproduction

Gloved hand drops liquid into a vial labeled CRISPR

Using CRISPR to Edit Eggs, Sperm, or Embryos Does Not Save Lives

By Tina Rulli, STAT | 10.15.2019

The startling announcement by He Jiankui almost one year ago that he had created the first genetically modified human beings...

Human Genetic Modification

abstract image of circles in blue, pink, and green

Controversial ‘3-Parent Baby’ Fertility Technique Fails to Deliver for Older Women

By Emily Mullin, Medium One Zero [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.15.2019

An experimental and much-hyped reproductive procedure that mixes DNA from three people is not effective at boosting the chances of...

Assisted Reproduction

Megaphone in the colors of the French flag

Why an IVF Bill Is the Next Fault Line for the French Republic

By Camille Robcis, The Washington Post | 10.14.2019

Since 1994, France has banned surrogacy and restricted access to reproductive technologies to heterosexual couples who have been married or...

Assisted Reproduction

Critics Unmoved by Economic Report; Still Say No More Billions for California's Stem Cell Agency

By David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report | 10.10.2019

This week's relatively rosy report on the economic impact of California's $3 billion stem cell research program has not convinced...

Stem Cells

Sperm Donor Sues Because His Medical School Misused His Sperm

By Ellen Trachman, Above The Law | 10.09.2019

Thanks to the emergence of affordable home DNA testing, we are now constantly learning surprising news relating to family connections...

Assisted Reproduction