The Brave New World: Should we tread down the path to human germline editing?
By Sheetal Soni,
South African Journal of Bioethics and Law
| 06. 01. 2021
Gene-editing tools such as the CRISPR-Cas9 system create an opportunity for individuals to have their DNA edited for specific purposes. Somatic cell editing targets specific cells in an individual, and is aimed at providing a therapeutic mechanism to correct a genetic disease or condition. Germline editing refers to the editing of the DNA of embryos or gametes, which creates edits that are heritable. Following the announcement in 2018 that the Chinese scientist He Jiankui had proceeded to gene-edit human embryos, a moratorium on germline editing was quickly proposed. While an objective of the moratorium was to prevent clinical application of germline editing, it also served as an opportunity to engage in global debate on the issues inherent in gene editing. Heritable editing has become an ethically controversial topic in bioethics, and this article undertakes to provide a primer in the existing national and international legal framework for gene editing, as well as description of the prominent current views of heritable germline editing.
In his novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley states that ‘We are not our own any more than...
Related Articles
By Zusha Elinson, The Wall Street Journal | 08.12.2025
BERKELEY, Calif.—Tsvi Benson-Tilsen, a mathematician, spent seven years researching how to keep an advanced form of artificial intelligence from destroying humanity before he concluded that stopping it wasn’t possible—at least anytime soon.
Now, he’s turned his considerable brainpower to promoting...
By Rob Stein, NPR [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 08.06.2025
A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies.
His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new...
By Susanna Smith, Genetic Frontiers | 07.28.2025
Key Topics
How does the American far right view genetics and genetic technologies?
What is the history of the American cultural pursuit of trying to choose smarter children? What has science shown us about the relationship of heredity and intelligence...
By Arthur Caplan and James Tabery, Scientific American | 07.28.2025
An understandable ethics outcry greeted the June announcement of a software platform that offers aspiring parents “genetic optimization” of their embryos. Touted by Nucleus Genomics’ CEO Kian Sadeghi, the $5,999 service, dubbed “Nucleus Embryo,” promised optimization of...