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A Deeper Dive Into the Colossal Furor
Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times | 04.23.2025
Is the dire wolf “de-extinction” effort a colossal waste of time? Billionaire biotech backers seem intent on funding a gene-editing revolution that threatens animals and humans alike.
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Appreciations for support for CGS' planned series of virtual convenings
The Center for Genetics and Society is gratified to acknowledge contributions from two funders to support our planned series of virtual convenings that will position assisted reproduction and genetic technologies within larger fights for reproductive justice, disability inclusion, and LGBTQ+ rights. The series will aim to build toward an intersectional, multi-sector coalition. We are grateful to the RWJF Special Contributions Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and to Borealis Philanthropy for their generous support.
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How Much Do (Human) Eggs Really Cost?
Emma McDonald Kennedy, Biopolitical Times | 04.24.2025
Diane Tober’s new book Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them makes it clear how a lack of transparency and oversight in the egg donation industry leaves egg donors vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and health complications.
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Forensic DNA breaks new ground for MMIP cold cases
Mary Annette Pember, ICT News | 04.17.2025
23andMe’s bankruptcy has created uncertainties for consumers’ genetic privacy, as CGS’ Katie Hasson describes. In response to misuses of genomic data, some indigenous scientists are creating their own DNA databases and using DNA forensic techniques to benefit their communities.
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Pronatalism - the argument for lots of babies
Radio New Zealand | 04.04.2025
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, CGS’ Katie Hasson explains how the current rise in pronatalism echoes elements of the early 20th century eugenics movement: “Pronatalism does share this eugenic idea that the 'best' people should have more babies, and that those babies will then be superior in some ways.”
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GENE EDITING | PRONATALISM | EUGENICS
SURROGACY 360 | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION
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A disgraced gene editing scientist wants back in the lab
Katrina Northrop, The Washington Post | 04.06.2025
He Jiankui’s public pronouncements about his attempts to return to gene editing research may be a facade, but the fact that he is comfortably speaking publicly about his plans indicates some level of tolerance by the Chinese government.
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Experts Discuss Guardrails for Heritable Human Genome Editing
Kevin Davies, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 03.27.2025
A small group of scientists, policy experts, religious leaders, and patient advocates recently met to review the current state of guidelines and policies on heritable human genome editing. One concluded, “There aren’t any legitimate uses [for HHGE], only rogue uses.”
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“NatalCon” and the Contradictions of the Pronatalist Right
Daniel Colligan, Jacobin | 04.18.2025
The second pronatalist conference “NatalCon” showed how the movement––currently made up of conservative religionists, ideologically predisposed technologists, and flamboyant far-right personalities––will likely struggle to appeal to people who are not white, male, and conservative.
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Pronatalism Isn’t a Solution, It’s a Problem
Sarah Jones, Intelligencer | 04.17.2025
In the post-Dobbs, pronatalist social order, conservatives are promoting reproduction––and the race and gender hierarchies that come along with it. A reproductive justice framework, by contrast, makes room for reproductive choice while addressing social injustices that affect reproductive freedom.
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The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers
Dana Mattioli, The Wall Street Journal | 04.15.2025
The extent of Elon Musk’s pronatalist “baby mission” is just beginning to be publicly revealed. Via X, Musk has asked women if they would like to have his child. His team has crafted deals to offer the four mothers of his children financial support in exchange for their silence.
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What Is Elon Musk’s I.Q.?
Amanda Hess, The New York Times | 04.05.2025
Speculations about Elon Musk’s high IQ have been used to justify his reckless behavior. The questionable measure of intelligence, which emerged from the eugenics movement, is being used to lend a scientific sheen to the consolidation of a new conservative political elite.
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The Take: Why is Ukraine’s surrogacy industry booming under bombs?
Al Jazeera | 04.09.2025
Initially, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted Ukraine’s low-regulation, low-cost surrogacy industry. Now, years into the conflict, Ukrainian surrogacy providers have adapted to continue to services, but some are paying surrogates less or denying surrogates support.
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‘Medical calamity’: dozens of Dutch sperm donors fathered at least 25 children
Jon Henley, The Guardian | 04.14.2025
A new fertility registry in the Netherlands revealed that fertility clinics have been breaking existing rules on sperm donation for decades. At least 85 sperm donors in the Netherlands have each fathered 25+ children, which means that donor-conceived people may have many unknown half-siblings in the country.
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Are Embryos Property? Human Life? Neither?
Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 04.08.2025
“Without dialogue and debate, transparency and understanding, we risk a future in which embryo governance––or lack thereof––will be decided by religious critics of I.V.F. ruling from the bench or enthusiastic techno-optimists developing products and services with an eye toward profits.”
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Should Human Life Be Optimized?
Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 04.01.2025
Researchers question the accuracy and efficacy of polygenic risk scores used in the screening and selection of embryos, but the tests are still growing in popularity. Critics see PGT-P as offering high net worth parents the “illusion of control” while overselling the importance of genetics in life outcomes.
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