News

The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot

By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 08.06.2025

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...

Genetic Selection

Baby Bonuses and Motherhood Medals: Why We Shouldn’t Trust the Pronatalist Movement

By Staff, National Women's Law Center | 08.13.2025

INTRODUCTION

Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.

Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...

Human Genetic Modification

We Don’t Know if the Babies Born From Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy Will Still Develop Mitochondrial Disease

By Katherine Drabiak, Journal of Medical Ethics Forum | 08.07.2025

^{Adapted from Mitochondrial DNA at

National Human Genome Research Institute}

Recently, media outlets around the world have been reporting on...

Assisted Reproduction

Can doctors test embryos for autism? And should they?

By Brittany Luse, Liam McBain, and Neena Pathak, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 05.28.2025

A newly available kind of genetic testing, called polygenic embryo screening, promises to screen for conditions that can include cancer...

Genetic Selection

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’

By Hannah Devlin, Tom Burgis, David Pegg, and Jason Wilson, The Guardian [cites CGS’ Katie Hasson] | 10.18.2024

A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises...

Genetic Selection

Testing for desirable embryos inconsistent and unreliable, new study says

By Tomoko Otake, The Japan Times | 10.17.2024

Screening embryos during in-vitro fertilization to select those with fewer genetic risks for common diseases and certain physical traits is...

Human Genetic Modification

Trump says he's the 'father of IVF' — and that he just recently learned what it is

By Dareh Gregorian, NBC News | 10.17.2024

^{"Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada"...}

Policies

one DNA strand with a check and another with an X

Revealed: International ‘race science’ network secretly funded by US tech boss

By David Pegg, Tom Burgis, Hannah Devlin and Jason Wilson, The Guardian | 10.16.2024

An international network of “race science” activists seeking to influence public debate with discredited ideas on race and eugenics has...

Other Countries

Italy Criminalizes Surrogacy From Abroad, a Blow to Gay and Infertile Couples

By Emma Bubola, The New York Times | 10.16.2024

^{Photo of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from CPAC 2022 con Hermann Tertsch y Victor Gonzalez by Vox España licensed...}

Policies

‘Anonymous’ genetic databases vulnerable to privacy leaks

By Helena Kudiabor, Nature | 10.14.2024

A study has raised concerns that a type of genetic database that is increasingly popular with researchers could be exploited...

Genomics

Trump’s Racist Rants against Immigrants Hide under the Language of Eugenics

By Daniel Vergano , Scientific American | 10.14.2024

Former president Donald Trump, in his inimitable way, has done at least one service to the cause of honesty. In...

U.S. Federal

When Trump talks 'bad genes' and 'racehorse theory,' he is telling us who he is

By Jackie Calmes, Los Angeles Times | 10.11.2024

^{“Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.}

Donald Trump's fascination with genetics, especially his...

U.S. Federal