|
| |
A New Eugenics Gold Rush? From designer babies to not-quite-designer jeans
Katie Hasson, Biopolitical Times | 08.21.2025
From designer babies to designer(-ish) jeans, it seems we’re now on the verge of a eugenics gold rush. A clear rejection of eugenic logics and strong regulation based in social justice values are needed to push back on companies attempting to cash in on “better babies” and a genetically engineered future.
| | | | |
Exciting changes at CGS
CGS is on the cusp of an exciting new chapter. After 13 intense, challenging, and deeply fulfilling years as executive director, Marcy Darnovsky will be retiring at the end of this month. Katie Hasson, currently CGS’ associate director, will step into the executive director role on September 1. Your support will boost CGS' impact in this new era. Stay tuned for plans to celebrate Marcy's leadership and many contributions.
| | |
| |
The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot
Rob Stein, NPR | 08.06.2025
A new push from Silicon Valley investors on heritable genome editing threatens a future where we "mass-produce genetically engineered human beings,” warned CGS’ Katie Hasson. “I'm very worried that all of this together means we're headed straight into a new era of high-tech, market-based eugenics."
| | |
| |
GMWatch on De-Extinction, Designer Babies, Gene Drives and More
Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 08.21.2025
The latest review from GMWatch scrutinizes new biotech developments including gene drives, CRISPR babies, lab-grown sperm, and immortality projects. "What unites many of these is not just the massive gap between the myth making and the reality, but the immense financial and political leverage now propelling them forward."
| | |
| |
New Guidelines on Trisomy 13 and 18 Promote Nuanced Care Decisions
Matteo Zumbano, Biopolitical Times | 08.13.2025
New guidelines from the American Academy for Pediatrics mark a welcome shift away from ableist assumptions about children with trisomy 13 and trisomy 18. The guidelines support individually tailored and accessible care and counseling for their families.
| | |
POLYGENIC EMBRYO SCREENING | GENE EDITING AND GENOMICS
IVG AND EMBRYO RESEARCH | EUGENICS | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION
US FEDERAL POLICY | SURROGACY 360 | VARIOUS
| | POLYGENIC EMBRYO SCREENING | | |
Inside Silicon Valley’s Obsession With High-IQ Babies
Zusha Elinson, The Wall Street Journal | 08.12.2025
Some Silicon Valley parents are increasingly enamored with technology that purports, without convincing evidence, to give them “smarter babies.” Some are willing to pay upwards of $50,000 for technologies that claim to screen embryos for IQ.
| | |
The Myth of the Designer Baby—Why ‘Genetic Optimization’ Is More Hype Than Science
Arthur Caplan and James Tabery, Scientific American | 07.28.2025
Nucleus Genomics’ touting of its “genetic optimization” technology provoked ethical outcry and comparisons to GATTACA, but the company is more akin to Theranos – it’s making unsubstantiated claims about polygenic risk scores that are not rooted in actual science.
| | GENE EDITING AND GENOMICS | | |
Blood taken from Danish babies ended up in huge genetic study—without consent
Annika Inampudi, Science | 08.01.2025
Ethics committees in Denmark allowed genetic data collected at birth from 150,000 Danish people born between 1981 and 2008 to be used in research studies on psychiatric disorders without those individuals’ knowledge or consent. Now, they’re being notified and given the chance to opt out of future research.
| | |
“CRISPR Meets GPT” to Supercharge Gene Editing
Kristel Tjandra, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 07.30.2025
“CRISPR-GPT” is an “AI agent” designed to interact with humans working on gene-editing. Researchers say the system can generate detailed protocols and troubleshoot potential errors. Some hope it will be a step toward fully automating gene editing. How far should “democratizing” gene editing go?
| | |
The Rise of Silicon Valley’s Techno-Religion
Cade Metz, The New York Times | 08.04.2025
Silicon Valley’s “Rationalists,” closely connected to effective altruism and artificial intelligence gambits, operate as a fundamentalist techno-religion, convincing adherents to “ignore their common sense about problems in the here and now in order to focus their attention on some fantastical future.”
| | |
UK Parliamentary office calls for submissions on surrogacy
Harry Hunter, PET BioNews | 08.11.2025
The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology announced plans to publish a POSTnote – a briefing document for members of Parliament – based in part on stakeholder submissions on surrogacy law in the UK and internationally. It might put surrogacy reform back on the legislative agenda after earlier attempts appeared to stall.
| | |
The Mystery of the L.A. Mansion Filled With Surrogate Children
Katherine Long, Ben Foldy, and Sara Randazzo, The Wall Street Journal | 08.05.2025
A Chinese couple in Los Angeles is under investigation after they were found to have more than 20 children – all born through surrogacy over the course of a few years. In addition to examining the couple’s motivations, police are investigating allegations of child abuse and potential links to clients in China.
| | |
A little-known approach to infertility is complicating the White House's IVF push
Aria Bendix, NBC News | 08.08.2025
With Trump’s support for IVF fizzling, conservative anti-abortion groups and MAHA fans hope he’ll fund “restorative reproductive medicine” instead. The approach purports to use scientifically based techniques to treat underlying causes of infertility, but it’s often attached to anti-abortion, anti-IVF sentiments.
| | |
Stem Cells, the NFL, and RFK Jr. -- What Doctors Need to Know
Gregory Laub and Hannah Glaser, MedPage Today | 08.07.2025
Professor of health policy and bioethicist Leigh Turner explains how professional athletes’ use and promotion of experimental stem cell treatments lend credibility to unproven, often risky procedures – a concerning trend in a political climate encouraging deregulation.
| | |
White House has no plan to mandate IVF care, despite campaign pledge
Riley Beggin and Jeff Stein, The Washington Post | 08.03.2025
Despite Trump’s campaign pledge and executive order promising to expand IVF access, recent reporting suggests that the White House will not make health insurers provide coverage for IVF. The administration is considering other strategies to boost access, but internal disagreements about IVF and federal family policy are far from resolved.
| | |
FDA’s New Drug Approval AI Is Generating Fake Studies: Report
Matt Novak, Gizmodo | 07.23.2025
RFK Jr. is pushing Health and Human Services agencies to use AI, but the perils of this approach are becoming clear. The FDA’s AI tool “Elsa” is making up nonexistent studies and misrepresenting research, according to FDA employees.
| | |
| |
40 Years of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act: What Next for Surrogacy?
Megan Freeman, PET BioNews | 07.28.2025
An online event held by Progress Educational Trust brought together six speakers, including a surrogate, an intended parent, and surrogacy researchers and lawyers, to discuss changes in surrogacy in the UK since the Surrogacy Arrangements Act came into effect 40 years ago.
| | |
GMWatch publishes historic recordings of scientist Arpad Pusztai
GMWatch | 08.08.2025
GMWatch has published a series of interviews conducted in March 2002 with the late scientist Dr. Arpad Pusztai. He describes the results of – and the political fallout from – his landmark 1999 study that found GM insecticidal potatoes had toxic effects on rats.
| | |
This company claimed to ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves. Then the fighting started
Ewen Callaway, Nature | 08.04.2025
Researchers and conservationists have made their skepticism about – or outright rejection of – Colossal Biosciences’ de-extinction claims clear. The company’s combative responses to critiques undermine their repeated reassurances of respect for scientific research and scrutiny.
| | | | |
