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 Alondra Nelson, Science | 09.11.2025
In the United States, the summer of 2025 will be remembered as artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) cruel summer—a season when the unheeded risks and dangers of AI became undeniably clear. Recent months have made visible the stakes of the unchecked use...
By Margaux MacColl, The San Francisco Standard | 09.17.2025
Designer babies are coming soon to an IVF clinic near you.
Nucleus Genomics, founded by Kian Sadeghi in 2020, when he was just 20, got its start analyzing genomes to weigh a person’s risk of everything from cancer to ADHD...
By Auriane Polge, Science & Vie [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 09.19.2025
L’idée de pouvoir choisir certaines caractéristiques de son futur enfant a longtemps relevé de la science-fiction ou du débat éthique. Aujourd’hui, les technologies de séquençage et les algorithmes d’analyse génétique repoussent les limites de ce qui semblait encore impossible. Au croisement...
By Charmayne Allison, ABC News | 09.21.2025
It has been seven years since Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui made an announcement that shocked the world's scientists.
He had made the world's first gene-edited babies.
Through rewriting DNA in twin girls' embryos, the man who would later be dubbed...