Exaggerations and Misrepresentations Have No Place in Science Policy Debates
By Jeremy Gruber,
Council for Responsible Genetics
| 02. 15. 2013
Yesterday
Intelligence Squared held a debate (
watch it in its entirety here) on whether we should prohibit genetically engineered babies. Arguing for the motion were CRG Board Chair Professor Sheldon Krimsky and Robert Winston, professor at Imperial College London. Arguing against the motion was Nita Farahany, professor at Duke University and a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and Lee Silver, professor at Princeton University.
The debate quickly turned to focus on mitochondrial disease, a group of disorders caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell and a new technique for treating such diseases that would, for the first time, allow the creation of babies whose genes have been intentionally altered by replacing the mitochondrial DNA. In focusing on this, and exclusively this element of genetic engineering, opponents of a ban managed to avoid any debate over genetic engineering purely for enhancement purposes. Indeed, Professor Silver seemed to distance himself from the more controversial opinions he espoused in his book,
Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform...
Related Articles
By Eric Schmidt, TIME | 04.16.2024
Imagine a world where everything from plastics to concrete is produced from biomass. Personalized cell and gene therapies prevent pandemics and treat previously incurable genetic diseases. Meat is lab-grown; enhanced nutrient grains are climate-resistant. This is what the future could...
By Harold Brubaker, The Philadelphia Inquirer | 04.04.2024
Acompany started by University of Pennsylvania scientist Jim Wilson has received FDA approval to test a form of gene editing in infants for the first time in the United States, the company said Thursday.
The Plymouth Meeting company, iECURE, is...
By Carey Gillan, UnSpun | 03.18.2024
A Mexican standoff with the United States turned into a Mexican smack-down this month with the release of Mexico’s formal rebuttal to US efforts to overturn limits Mexico has ordered on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn and the...
By Billy Perrigo, TIME | 03.11.2024
The U.S. government must move “quickly and decisively” to avert substantial national security risks stemming from artificial intelligence (AI) which could, in the worst case, cause an “extinction-level threat to the human species,” says a report commissioned by the U.S...