Editing Of Human Embryo Genes Raises Ethics Questions
        
            By Britt E. Erickson, 
                Chemical & Engineering News
             | 06. 29. 2015
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
             
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A little more than a decade after scientists first unraveled the   human genome, some researchers are trying to rewrite it. Advances in   gene-editing technology have provided relatively inexpensive and easy   ways to delete, insert, or replace genes in human cells to correct   defects associated with devastating diseases such as cystic fibrosis and   sickle cell anemia. Gene-editing tools could also be used to alter   plant and animal genomes to boost agricultural yields and food   production or to modify insect genomes to reduce the spread of diseases   such as malaria.
 
   
    Not only are gene-editing tools scientifically promising, they also   have the potential to be highly lucrative commercially. But with that   promise comes worries that gene-editing technology could be used to   create designer babies with enhanced traits, such as higher intelligence   or greater beauty. Many scientists are also worried that the technology   could change the human germ line—the DNA in reproductive cells that is   passed on from one generation to the next—in unexpected or dangerous   ways.
 
    
   
    The ethical implications and risks of human gene editing came to a   head in April...
 
 
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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