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
4 pregnant women dressed in robes, standing in line; grayscale

Safety Concerns For Ukrainian Surrogate Mothers And Babies

By Bianca Facchinei, Newsy [cites CGS' Emily Galpern] | 03.25.2022

Photo by Astaken on Flickr

The war in Ukraine has disrupted trade and threatened the global economy, from oil to...

Other Countries
tweezers are used to take a DNA strand apart

Should we use genome editing to make better babies? Here’s what the experts think

By Tim Brinkhof, Big Think [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 03.23.2022

George Church is one of the world’s most famous pioneers of genetics and biotechnology. He has made colossal contributions to...

Society
Picture of Osagie Obasogie

Campus professor Osagie K. Obasogie elected as member to the National Academy of Medicine

By Lydia Sidhom, The Daily Californian [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 10.20.2021

UC Berkeley professor of law and bioethics Osagie K. Obasogie was elected for membership to the National Academy of Medicine...

Civil Society
an egg cell with a question mark inside

Polygenic screening of embryos is here, but is it ethical?

By Philip Ball, The Guardian [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 10.17.2021

The birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 provoked a media frenzy. In comparison, a little girl...

Genomics
a magnifying glass shows a strand of DNA in front of a background of multicolored squares

“Gattaca” and the Ethics of Genetic Selection

By David K. Johnson, The Great Courses Daily [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 09.19.2021

The film Gattaca is set in a world in which gene manipulation is common. When parents decide to have children...

Genetic Selection

Should we edit human embryos' genomes, and if so then how?

By Dieter Egli, BioNews [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 07.12.2021

I recently received a thoughtful letter from a college student I do not know – I'll call her Claudia* –...

Human Genetic Modification
double helix over world map

World Health Organization advisers urge global effort to regulate genome editing

By Megan Molteni, STAT [cites CGS] | 07.12.2021

On Monday, a World Health Organization advisory committee called on the world’s largest public health authority to stand by the...

Policies
a scientist doing lab research in a sterile environment

Expanding Biolab Complex in Berkeley Has Residents Worried

By Sharon Lerner, Lee Fang, The Intercept [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky] | 06.09.2021

The Bayer Corporation has made it clear that the creation of a biological research facility on its waterfront property in Berkeley, California, will...

Bioethics