The Trump administration has disbanded dozens of science and bioethics advisory committees, including a panel of scientific experts and patient advocates advising the NIH on biosafety and ethical issues related to CRISPR gene drives, gene therapies, and data privacy.
Some see automated IVF technology as a promising way to expand access, increase success rates, and reduce costs, but others predict that it will introduce more problems than it resolves. 2/2 www.washingtonpost.c...
Clinical trials are testing the use of AI software and robotic automation in IVF to select and collect sperm and fertilize an egg. Some startups have already begun offering the technology in clinics in Turkey and Latin America. 1/2
The technique also raises serious ethical concerns, including its potential use in attempts to create “designer babies” or use someone’s DNA unknowingly to create an embryo with their genetic material. 3/3 www.npr.org/2025/09/...
While they were able to fertilize some of the eggs, the embryos did not develop normally, demonstrating that the technique introduces significant safety risks. 2/3
A team at Oregon Health & Science University used a modified cloning technique to replace DNA from a donor egg with DNA from another person’s adult skin cells to create reconstituted eggs.1/3
Advocates hoped that Trump’s IVF promises would encourage bipartisan support of a proposal to expand military health coverage to include IVF, but divisions among Republicans have stalled the proposal’s progress.
The Danish PM apologized in person to survivors of Denmark’s decades-long campaign to implant contraception devices in Indigenous Greenlandic women and girls without their knowledge or consent. 1/2
The history of ELSI demonstrates that systematic ethical oversight strengthens rather than constrains beneficial innovation. AI development now stands at a similar inflection point, but with higher stakes and faster timelines.
The health, safety, and experiences of women are often left out in discussions of IVF and other reproductive technologies. This has significant implications for considerations of heritable genome editing, says CGS’ Katie Hasson.
A new GeneWatch UK briefing for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Congress makes it clear: “Genetically modifying nature is not conservation and risks undermining the very concept of conservation in itself.” 1/2
Nucleus Genomics says its polygenic risk predictions bring “genetic optimization” to IVF, despite scientific critiques of the accuracy of such techniques and ethical concerns about the eugenic implications of genetic selection.
Researchers and companies are designing and testing AI algorithms that they hope will predict near-future breast cancer risk by identifying subtle changes in mammogram images. Some raise concerns that the models won’t be as effective in diverse populations. www.wsj.com/health/a...
Find videos from the convening – featuring CGS’ Katie Hasson and Emily Galpern, CGS Advisory Board Members Dorothy Roberts and Lisa Ikemoto, and numerous CGS colleagues – on YouTube at this link:
At the March 2025 Reproductive Justice Futurisms Think Tank Convening at Smith College, presenters discussed how reproductive justice frameworks can respond to new eugenic applications of reproductive and genetic technologies and explored alternative reproductive futures. 1/2
U.S. startups are scaling up embryo selection offerings by convincing prospective parents that polygenic risk scores and proprietary algorithms can identify their “best” IVF embryos. 1/2
The 23andMe bankruptcy saga made it clear that current laws fail to adequately protect consumers from the sale and misuse of their genetic data. Lawmakers’ proposals for reform do not do enough to strengthen genetic privacy.
It may be impossible to please all the pronatalists in the Trump base at once. Silicon Valley types embrace IVF and polygenic risk scores, while Christian conservatives reject IVF altogether in favor of “restorative reproductive medicine.” 1/2
New Jersey’s Department of Health is considering new regulations for egg and embryo storage facilities. The rules would require biobanks to be licensed and to comply with standards for recordkeeping, adverse event reporting, and quality management.
But by pitching IVF, genetic testing, and embryo selection as good investments for families and the nation, they carry forward early eugenicists’ assertions that “better babies” are a civic responsibility. www.geneticsandsocie...
Genomics companies selling polygenic prediction of children’s futures would almost certainly disavow eugenic commitments to “race betterment” and racial hierarchies. 1/2
