Articles and Commentary

Eugenics is Back: In a range of new flavors

By Anne Rumberger and Marcy Darnovsky, Science for the People | 02.29.2024

Eugenics is widely regarded as a debunked pseudoscience—developed and promoted mostly in Nazi Germany—that fell off the political radar after the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed. In fact, twentieth century eugenics represented the mainstream science of its day and...

Assisted Reproduction

Forum: Risks and rewards of gene editing

By Marcy Darnovsky, Issues in Science and Technology | 07.31.2020

In this interview as in past public comments, Jennifer Doudna opens the door to using the CRISPR platform she helped develop in the service of a hugely controversial enterprise: altering the genomes and traits of future children and subsequent generations...

Genetic Selection

Police killing black people is a pandemic, too

By Osagie Obasogie, The Washington Post | 06.05.2020

Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash

Pandemics are often thought to be unforeseeable acts of God that emerge suddenly to wreak havoc on unsuspecting populations. But that’s not how public health practitioners think about them. More often than not, pandemics...

U.S. Federal

Heritable Human Genome Editing Is Not Inevitable

By Donna Dickenson, Katie Hasson & Marcy Darnovsky, Project Syndicate | 03.17.2020
Whether to employ heritable genome editing is not a decision we can take lightly. It certainly cannot be treated as a choice we have already made.
Human Genetic Modification

Geneva Statement on Heritable Human Genome Editing: The Need for Course Correction

By Roberto Andorno, Françoise Baylis, Marcy Darnovsky, Donna Dickenson, Hille Haker, Katie Hasson, Leah Lowthorp, et al., Trends in Biotechnology | 01.31.2020

Heritable Human Genome Editing: Nearing a Critical Juncture

The impending decision about whether to develop and use heritable human genome modification carries high stakes for our shared future. Deciding to proceed with altering the genes of future children and generations...

Human Genetic Modification

Genetic Justice: Identity and Equality in the Biotech Age

By Katie Hasson and Marcy Darnovsky, Development Journal | 01.14.2020

As genetic technologies merge with forensics, medicine, and human reproduction, renewed eugenic temptations are arising. The prospect of heritable genetic modification has been debated for decades; the prevailing position in international policy and human rights documents has been that, due...

Human Genetic Modification

Do Not Open the Door

By Marcy Darnovsky, Southwestern Medical Perspectives | 12.04.2019
Dozens of nations have considered this prospect and decided that manipulating the human germline should be legally off limits. The U.S. and China have not.
Human Genetic Modification

Scientists Can’t Be Trusted on Gene Editing

By Pete Shanks, The Progressive | 08.14.2019

In mid-July, a bipartisan trio of U.S. Senators—Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida—introduced a resolution calling for the creation of an international commission to set ethical standards for...

Human Genetic Modification

We Don't Need More Reasons to Reject Heritable Genome Modification

By Katie Hasson, The Hill | 06.10.2019

Late last year, scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the world’s first genetically modified babies. He deployed a technology known as CRISPR to alter the genomes of two embryos that he used to initiate a pregnancy; their mother...

Human Genetic Modification