Exhibit 31.1

                                 CERTIFICATION

         I, James A.D. Smith, certify that:

                  1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of
Genelabs Technologies, Inc.;

                  2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;

                  3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

                  4. The registrant's other certifying officer and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control
over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

                  a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
     caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
     supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
     registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
     by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which
     this report is being prepared;

                  b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting,
     or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed
     under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
     reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
     statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
     accounting principles;

                  c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
     controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
     the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
     of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

                  d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
     internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
     registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or
     is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
     control over financial reporting; and

                  5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have
disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of
the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
functions):

                  a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
     the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
     are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
     record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

                  b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
     management or other employees who have a significant role in the
     registrant's internal control over financial reporting.


     Date:  November 8, 2005                 /s/ JAMES A.D. SMITH
                                             -----------------------------
                                             James A.D. Smith
                                             President and Chief Executive
                                             Officer