CRISPR: Move Beyond Differences

This autumn, researchers and other experts will come together to discuss the scientific, ethical and policy issues associated with gene-editing research in humans. Plans for the international meeting were announced by the US National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine after a study was published in which researchers used a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR to modify the genomes of non-viable human embryos¹.

Whether this meeting and others like it, planned in the United States, can help to forge a path for gene editing that takes into account all the relevant needs and concerns will depend on what efforts are made to integrate the diverse perspectives of people with different expertise and values. A first step to such integration is understanding how different perspectives arise.

One division in cares and concerns seems at times to fall along stereotypical gender lines. This was powerfully demonstrated during a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, last month on biotechnology and ethics. About 200 global thought leaders gathered at BEINGS 2015 to “reach consensus on the direction of biotechnology...