Can gene editing kill deadly diseases?
By Colin Baker,
Al Jazeera
| 04. 11. 2023
“This keeps us all awake at night. Once you have edited someone, you cannot unedit them.” Fyodor Urnov, Innovative Genomics Institute, Berkeley, California
Two clinics sit adjacent to one another in a new hospital in a medium-sized city in the developed world.
In one, a family waits for a long-scheduled appointment. Their daughter suffers from a rare inherited disease. One of her genes encodes for a protein that doesn’t perform its functions normally, and her degenerative ailment is most likely fatal. Their doctor is about to discuss a procedure that will remove cells from the affected organ, correct the inherited faults and reinfuse her cells, allowing her organ to perform its functions without the inborn errors that she and her family have been managing since her birth.
The procedure is expensive, requiring a payment plan over a decade financed by a start-up, and it will need chemotherapy and a hospital stay. But it’s a one-time fix, and if side-effects appear down the line, doctors will study them.
In another waiting room, a soon-to-be-expectant couple waits to meet a geneticist. The doctor will present a plan for their unborn baby: to alter a few lines of its DNA to reverse a rare disorder before...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...