Ethics of Embryo Editing Paper Divides Scientists

In the wake of the first ever report that scientists have edited the genomes of human embryos, experts cannot agree on whether the work was ethical. They also disagree over how close the methods are to being an option for treating disease.

The work in question was led by Junjiu Huang, a gene-function researcher at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. His team used a technique called CRISPR/Cas9 to cut and replace DNA in non-viable embryos that could not result in a live birth because they were created from eggs that had been fertilized by two sperm. They published a paper1 in Protein & Cell, which was reported by Nature's news team on 22 April, confirming rumours that had been circulating for months that scientists were applying such gene-editing techniques to human embryos.

In March, the rumours prompted calls2, 3 for a moratorium on such research: work in human embryos is contentious because, in principle, any genetic changes will be passed to future generations, a scenario known as germline modification. 

Some feel...