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Silicon Valley’s race to produce genetically engineered humans
Katie Hasson, Biopolitical Times | 11.21.2025
Silicon Valley titans are funding genetic and reproductive technologies to bring us closer to a world of genetically engineered humanity –– one designed to establish current economic elites as future biological elites. Now is the time for urgent action to prevent heritable genome editing and preserve our hopes for a just and inclusive future.
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Giving Tuesday is December 2!
CGS is leading the way in confronting resurgent eugenics and the misuse of experimental reproductive and genetic technologies. As attacks on social justice, human rights, and democracy intensify, your contribution fuels our work to secure a just and inclusive future where human biotechnologies serve the common good.
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Remembering Disability Justice Warrior Alice Wong
Emily Galpern, Biopolitical Times | 11.20.2025
Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project (DVP), MacArthur Genius, liberationist, storyteller, writer, and friend of CGS, died on November 14. Alice was an important voice in the disability justice movement, critiquing ableism and vocally opposing heritable genome editing across her podcasts, writing, talks, and social media posts.
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In Memoriam: James Watson, 1928–2025
Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 11.18.2025
James Watson, a scientist famous for ground-breaking work on DNA and notorious for expressing his antediluvian opinions, died on November 6, at the age of 97. The cumulative controversies resurfaced by Watson’s death may destroy what is left of his scientific reputation. Or perhaps he’ll be reclaimed as the truth-teller he thought he was by elements of an increasingly sexist and racist society.
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Developments in gene-editing technology raise new ethical questions
KBCS Radio | 11.12.2025
CGS’ Katie Hasson weighs in on recent heritable genome editing efforts: “This idea that we would produce genetically engineered children who have ‘better’ genes than others… is an idea of biological hierarchy that we’ve seen have incredibly harmful effects throughout history.”
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GENE EDITING | GENE THERAPY | EUGENICS
SURROGACY 360 | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION | VARIOUS
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Here’s the latest company planning for gene-edited babies
Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 10.31.2025
Gene editing scientist Lucas Harrington announced that his company, Preventive, has $30M in funding to research heritable genome editing. Their eventual goal: making embryo editing a commonplace technology.
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A New Startup Wants to Edit Human Embryos
Emily Mullin, Wired | 10.30.2025
Why are startups rushing to commercialize “designer baby” technologies that combine experimental biotech with genetic determinism and eugenics? One startup, Manhattan Genomics, is undeterred by the risks of editing human embryos and the prohibitions in place. Its founder, former Thiel fellow Cathy Tie, announced a slate of advisors recruited to guide the project, which she says only aims to correct genetic diseases.
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The FDA is a mess, but don’t blame it for everything
Adam Feuerstein, Stat | 11.06.2025
Two gene therapy companies are blaming chaos within the FDA for setbacks in approval for their treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but it’s possible that the data the agency reviewed made it clear that neither was ready for approval.
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Personalized gene editing helped one baby: can it be rolled out widely?
Heidi Ledford, Nature | 10.31.2025
Last year, researchers produced the first personalized base-editing gene therapy to treat an infant’s metabolic disorder. Now, they are launching a clinical trial to test the use of base editing techniques for other children with similar genetic conditions.
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Tech Capitalists Don’t Care About Humans. Literally.
Doug Henwood, Jacobin | 11.15.2025
In an interview, Émile Torres explains the TESCREAL worldview, its connections to eugenics and IQ realism, and why figures like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Sam Altman embrace visions of a post-human future that devalues human beings.
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How Elon Musk and JD Vance plan to 'save civilization' with more babies
Christina Cala, Dalia Mortada, Gene Demby, and B.A. Parker, NPR | 10.29.2025
Immigration crackdowns and attempts to persuade women to have more babies are both tied to far right attempts to link population and purity with pronatalism –– a constellation of concerns that echoes early 20th century eugenic preoccupations with racial purity.
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Botswana’s Legal Void on Surrogacy
Laone Rasaka, Weekend Post | 10.27.2025
Botswana’s unregulated surrogacy industry operates in a legal vacuum, leading to exploitation of surrogates, many of whom are domestic workers from Zimbabwe. Policy advocates are calling for regulation to address the negative impact of power and privilege on women and girls.
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‘They treat men like vending machines’: inside the hidden world of social media sperm selling
Robyn Vinter, The Guardian | 11.09.2025
Unregulated sperm donor groups that operate on social media are an increasingly popular alternative to clinic-based sperm donation arrangements in the UK. Intended parents describe serious problems such as scams, sexual assault and harassment, hidden genetic disorders, and uncertainty around how many times a donor’s sperm has been used.
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This machine could keep a baby alive outside the womb. How will the world decide to use it?
Lucy Tu, The Guardian | 11.06.2025
Researchers working on artificial womb technologies hope to construct a womb-like environment that can support the development of premature infants. As these prototypes advance, they bring up complex ethical questions for parents, providers, and the public about reproduction and the use of experimental technology.
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Between Taiwan and the United States: International Standards on Citizenship, Parentage, and Child Protection in Surrogacy
Jing-han Chen, Global Taiwan Institute | 10.29.2025
Surrogacy is illegal in Taiwan, but some Taiwanese intended parents travel abroad for surrogacy arrangements. Domestic policy that considers both the welfare of children and the rights of surrogates would help address legal issues that emerge from cross-border surrogacy arrangements.
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‘The pro-life movement still has some real juice’: How Trump’s promise of free IVF fizzled
Alice Miranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly, Politico | 10.25.2025
Social and religious conservatives’ year-long effort to lobby the Trump administration against IVF subsidies and coverage mandates has paid off. The White House’s recently announced policy proposals fall short of the robust IVF expansion Trump promised during his campaign.
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Georgia's surrogacy clinics attract hundreds of Australians but ethical questions remain
Bridget Rollason, ABC News | 10.25.2025
The country of Georgia has become a hub for compensated surrogacy, especially for Australian intended parents, but unethical practices and exploitation have raised significant concerns about the industry and the limited regulations governing it.
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Egg Freezing in an Age of Uncertainty
Alison Motluk, CBC Listen | 10.22.2025
In a new audio documentary, Alison Motluk speaks with scholars studying egg freezing and women who have undergone the procedure to understand the social politics, gender realities, and business of egg freezing.
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Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts
Aisha Down, The Guardian | 11.10.2025
Neurotechnology researchers are frustrated with wealthy Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs’ public enthusiasm for “sci-fi” transhumanist ventures like brain uploading. The focus on these unrealistic ventures distracts from near-term neurotech treatments for paralysis and other conditions.
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Cloning isn’t just for celebrity pets like Tom Brady’s dog
Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 11.07.2025
Several companies claim to offer “pet cloning,” a technique that creates a genetic twin of a pet for a hefty price tag. Despite criticism of the practice, it’s also being tested as a way to increase the population of endangered species, like the black-footed ferret.
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Unproven stem cell treatments: Is the US Supreme Court sending a message?
Patrick Foong, BioNews | 11.03.2025
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from stem cell clinics that challenged the FDA’s authority to regulate unproven stem cell treatments. While the decision affirms the FDA’s regulatory authority, it remains to be seen whether the agency will enforce rules related to stem cell treatments and advertising during Trump’s presidency.
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First clinical trial of pig kidney transplants gets underway
Lauran Neergaard, AP News | 11.03.2025
United Therapeutics has started the first clinical trial to transplant gene-edited pig kidneys into people. The initial trial will include 6 people but could expand. A second clinical trial by another gene editing company, eGenesis, is set to begin later in November.
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