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Email: darnovsky[AT]geneticsandsociety[DOT]org

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Groundbreaking Social Justice Principles on Heritable Human Genome Editing

By Center for Genetics and Society | 02.14.2024

Press Statement

Groundbreaking Social Justice Principles on Heritable Human Genome Editing Released by International Coalition of Advocates and Scholars

Endorsed by 70+ Individuals and Organizations

An international coalition of scholars, advocates, and social change organizations today released Social Justice and Human Rights...

Calls for Course Correction in the Heritable Genome Editing Debate: Decentering the Summit, Spotlighting Social Justice

By Center for Genetics and Society | 03.04.2023

Press Statement

Events and initiatives highlight widespread opposition to altering the genes of future children and generations

“Genetic Justice from Start to Summit” symposium now available online

The Center for Genetics and Society’s virtual symposium “Genetic Justice from Start to Summit” was...

Comment on WHO Human Genome Editing Recommendations

By Center for Genetics and Society | 07.12.2021

Press Statement

WHO committee recognizes need for global cooperation, meaningful public engagement on heritable genome editing; falls short by not calling for global ban

Today a World Health Organization advisory committee released two reports with recommendations for governance of human genome editing, the...

Forensic DNA breaks new ground for MMIP cold cases

By Mary Annette Pember, ICT News [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 04.18.2025

The sight of a room full of human cadavers can be off-putting for some, but not for Haley Omeasoo.

In fact, Omeasoo’s comfort level and lack of squeamishness convinced her to pursue studies in forensics and how DNA can be...

Genomics

Pronatalism - the argument for lots of babies

By Staff [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Radio New Zealand | 04.05.2025

At a time where some countries are struggling with low birth rates, the voices for pronatalism are getting louder. But it’s who’s sounding the call for more babies that has people talking.

Tech giant Elon Musk has fourteen children and...

U.S. Federal

23andMe’s DNA data is going up for sale. Here’s why companies might want it

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 03.30.2025

23andMe, a standard-bearer for the at-home health movement, announced on March 23 that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to facilitate a sale, prompting many of its 15 million customers to wonder: What happens to my genetic data now...

Society

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

Scientists Still Can’t Be Trusted on Gene Editing

By Pete Shanks, The Progressive Magazine | 12.04.2023

Five years ago, on November 25, 2018, the world learned that a rogue Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, had created the first children whose DNA had been tailored using gene editing before they were born. They were twins, code-named “Lulu” and...

Human Genetic Modification

From small beginnings: to build an anti-eugenic future

By Benedict Ipgrave, Miroslava Chavez-Garcia, Marcy Darnovsky, Subhadra Das, Charlene Galarneau, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Nora Ellen Groce, Tony Platt, Milton Reynolds, Marius Turda, Robert A Wilson, The Lancet | 05.21.2022

September, 1921 was unusually hot and New York was sweltering. For the many immigrants who crowded the city's tenements and pavements, one of the few places for relief from the incessant heat was the American Museum of Natural History. That...

A "Post-Human" Future?