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About Inheritable Genetic Modification


The Basic Science

Frequently Asked Questions

Arguments Pro & Con

Inheritable genetic modification (IGM, also called germline engineering) means changing the genes passed on to future generations. The genetic changes would be made in eggs, sperm or early embryos; modified genes would appear not only in the person who developed from that gamete or embryo, but also in all succeeding generations. IGM has not been tried in humans. It would be by far the most consequential type of genetic modification as it would open the door to irreversibly altering the human species.

Proposals for inheritable genetic modification in humans combine techniques involving in vitro fertilization (IVF), gene transfer, stem cells and research cloning.



How Far Would You Go? Public Interest Collaborative Announces First-Ever Web Series for Parents on Technologies that Could Alter Human NatureMother’s Day launch to spark grassroots discussions about new reproductive and genetic technologiesMay 5th, 2010A new website and series of short videos on the complex challenges of new reproductive and genetic technologies.
BioConversations: Taking the Biotech Discussion Public by Marcy DarnovskyBiopolitical TimesMay 5th, 2010Introducing the first web series for parents about technologies that could alter human nature.
Emerging Technologies and a Sustainable, Healthy, Just WorldThe Case of Human Reproductive and Genetic Technologiesby Marcy Darnovsky and Jesse ReynoldsBiodiversity: The Newsletter of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity (Winter 2010)Environmentalists are in a position to play a critically important role in determining how powerful, emerging technologies are ultimately developed, used, and regulated.
Technology Updates: Inheritable Genetic Modificationby Pete ShanksBiopolitical TimesJanuary 14th, 2010Two new technologies may make inheritable genetic modification significantly more feasible.
Return of the GenRich?by Pete ShanksBiopolitical TimesOctober 29th, 2009There has been a brief flurry of discussion about future separate species of humans.
Monkeys, Mitochondria, and the Human Germline by Jesse ReynoldsBioethics ForumSeptember 18th, 2009The researchers into radically novel techniques display an alarmingly casual attitude toward risks to the potential children born, the difficulties and dangers of obtaining the large numbers of the required women's eggs, and the potentially dire social consequences of human inheritable genetic modification.
Michael Sandel on genetics, morality, and a new politics of the common goodby Marcy DarnovskyBiopolitical TimesSeptember 11th, 2009"It is tempting to think that bioengineering our children and ourselves for success in a competitive society is an exercise of freedom. But changing our nature to fit the world, rather than the other way around, is actually the deepest form of disempowerment."
New Genetic Therapy [includes audio]by Oregon Public BroadcastingThink Out LoudSeptember 1st, 2009CGS's Marcy Darnovsky and researcher Shoukhrat Mitolipov debate the implications of a new study about mitochondrial DNA for inheritable genetic modification on this call-in radio show.
Live mice and sperm - both from stem cells - create new social and ethical challengesPublic interest group calls for federal oversight of reproductive usesJuly 26th, 2009Recent developments in cell reprogramming methods raise significant new ethical and social challenges.
Other uses for laboratory-produced sperm?by Jesse ReynoldsBiopolitical TimesJuly 13th, 2009Advances in laboratory-produced sperm--if perfected--could also be used for other purposes, including troubling ones.
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