Press

Media Inquiries

Marcy Darnovsky, 1-510-665-7760, ext. 305 
Email: darnovsky[AT]geneticsandsociety[DOT]org

General Information

Email: info[AT]geneticsandsociety[DOT]org
Voice messages: 510-665-7760, ext. 0

 

Press Statements

Center for Genetics and Society Receives Major Grant for “Confronting Eugenics to Build a Just Future”

By Center for Genetics and Society | 07.03.2025
Press Statement

The Center for Genetics and Society, a project of the Tides Center, has been awarded $751,000 by the Mellon Foundation to support activities that establish a more complete understanding of the histories and legacies of eugenics. This generous grant will...

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...

CGS in the News

Surrogacy goes more mainstream

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Emily Galpern] | 03.29.2026

More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, as the practice becomes more common and more publicly discussed.

Why it matters: As surrogacy becomes more visible and accessible, ethical, legal and cultural tensions become harder to ignore...

U.S. Federal

Surrogacy laws are all over the map

By Carly Mallenbaum, Axios [cites Surrogacy360] | 03.29.2026

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations/

Why it matters: Confusing, varied local rules can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at...

Policies

Bay Area Startups Want to Make Genetically Engineered Babies. What Could Go Wrong?

By Grace Won, KQED Forum [with CGS' Katie Hasson] | 12.02.2025

In the U.S., it’s illegal to edit genes in human embryos with the intention of creating a genetically engineered baby. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Bay Area startups are focused on just that. It wouldn’t be the first...

Genetic Selection

Articles and Commentary

Should We Use Gene Editing to Create Super Babies?

By Katie Hasson, The New York Times Upfront | 02.17.2025

A young couple wants to have a baby, but they’re worried it’ll carry a disease that runs in the family. “There’s a solution,” the doctor says, “a technology that can alter the disease-causing gene in the egg, ensuring that the...

Bioethics

South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing

By Françoise Baylis and Katie Hasson, The Conversation | 10.24.2024

A little-noticed change to South Africa’s national health research guidelines, published in May of this year, has put the country on an ethical precipice. The newly added language appears to position the country as the first to explicitly permit...

Policies

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

Fact Sheets