CGS in the News

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 questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing...

Genetic Selection

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

What Do You Risk With At-Home DNA Test Kits?

By Ashleigh Wyss [cites CGS' Katie Hasson], Listnr | 10.09.2024

Discovering your genetic history can be as simple as spitting into a test tube, but what happens when your data...

Society
Researcher extracts DNA from a test tube using a micropipette.

Genetic Testing Kits: Fueling Historical Discrimination?

By Sarah Russo, The Technoskeptic [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 07.11.2018

Genetic Testing Kits: Fueling a Historical Discrimination Bias?
The diversity of snowflakes is a great analogy to that of the...

Perspectives
Close up of a baby's eyes staring into the distance.

Embryos Made From Genes of Three Biological Parents Fuel the Debate Over Designer Babies

By Kurt Pitzer, People [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.21.2018

A Ukrainian doctor is creating genetically modified “three-parent” babies in an effort to give infertile women a chance to bear...

Assisted Reproduction
An artist's rendering of a futuristic-looking human figure made up of nitrogenous bases A, T, C, and G.

5 biggest risks of sharing your DNA with consumer genetic-testing companies

By Eric Rosenbaum, CNBC [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.16.2018

The business of personal genetic-testing kits is booming, with consumers able to learn about their ancestry and health risks at...

Bioethics
Blue-tinted image of a human oocyte pierced by a needle.

Three-Parent Embryos—A Slippery Slope?

By John D. Loike and Alan Kadish, The Scientist [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.14.2018

On June 7, news reports emerged that Valery Zukin, director of Nadiya Clinic of Reproductive Medicine in Ukraine...

Human Genetic Modification
A close up of the face of a Rottweiler smiling with its tongue out against a background of green grass.

Does this dog look like a Saint Bernard? The questionable business of home DNA tests

By David Lazarus, The Los Angeles Times [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.12.2018

A DNA test found that I’m 72.3% of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, thanks to ancestors from Ukraine. I expected as much...

Bioethics
Google Calico logo, a green C surrounded by green concentric circles.

Who is the secretive Google subsidiary that has access to Ancestry's DNA database?

By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy DC Bureau [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.01.2018

For DNA testing companies, the genetic code that customers pay to have analyzed is a gift that keeps on giving...

Bioethics
A close up photograph of a globe with clear push pins inserted in various countries.

DNA-testing companies say they can pinpoint your ethnicity. Can they?

By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy DC Bureau [Cites CGS' Leah Lowthorp] | 05.31.2018

Curious about their roots, consumers are spending tens of millions of dollars each year getting their DNA tested and then...

Racial Justice
An unlabeled pie chart with blue, green, purple, and orange sections.

Is DNA testing telling us more than we want to know? The untold story of Ancestry.com

By Erica Evans, Deseret News [Cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 05.30.2018

Lynn Schwiebert was 67-years-old when she decided to figure out who she really was.

She had spent years tracing her...

Bioethics