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

Work on synthetic human embryos to get code of practice in UK

By Ian Sample, The Guardian | 07.04.2024

Biological models of human embryos that can develop heartbeats, spinal cords and other distinctive features will be governed by a ...

Policies

Purple-colored sickle cells over a white background

A pill to treat sickle cell disease? Compound that activates fetal gene raises new hope

By Robert F. Service, Science | 07.04.2024

_{Image by Ed Uthman from Flickr}

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy procedures...

Human Genetic Modification

a photo of Japan's Supreme Court buildinghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Supreme_Court_of_Japan_(10357245203).jpg

Court orders Japanese government to pay damages over forced sterilisations

By Justin McCurry, The Guardian | 07.03.2024

^{Photo "Supreme Court of Japan" by Big Ben Japan on Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC by SA 2.0}

Japan’s supreme...

Society

Surrogacy money scandal leaves parents-to-be in limbo nightmare

By Gilma Avalos, NBC | 07.03.2024

_{Image by Josh Appel from Unsplash}

The dream of becoming parents is turning into a nightmare for hundreds of people...

U.S. Federal

A Retracted Stem Cell Study Reveals Science’s Shortcomings

By Peter Aldhous, Scientific American | 07.02.2024

In June a notice posted on the website of the journal Nature set a new scientific record. It withdrew what...

Human Genetic Modification

With its 'Chevron' ruling, the Supreme Court claims to be smarter than scientific experts

By Michael Hiltzik, LA Times | 07.02.2024

_{Photo by Claire Anderson on Unsplash}

Second only to the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday on when presidents are immune from...

U.S. Federal

IVF in the USA: A political dance

By Sonia Suter and Naomi Cahn, PET | 07.01.2024

_{Image by Dusdn5959 from Wikimedia Commons}

Since the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade (see BioNews ...

Assisted Reproduction

Lung Institute found guilty of selling patients 'sham' stem cell treatment for incurable lung disease

By Katie LaGrone, WPTV | 06.28.2024

_{Image by National Cancer Institute from Unsplash}

TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa jury recently found the now-defunct Lung Institute in...

U.S. Federal