Aggregated News
Yesterday Intelligence Squared held a debate (watch it in its entirety here) on whether we should prohibit genetically engineered babies. Arguing for the motion were CRG Board Chair Professor Sheldon Krimsky and Robert Winston, professor at Imperial College London. Arguing against the motion was Nita Farahany, professor at Duke University and a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and Lee Silver, professor at Princeton University.
The debate quickly turned to focus on mitochondrial disease, a group of disorders caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell and a new technique for treating such diseases that would, for the first time, allow the creation of babies whose genes have been intentionally altered by replacing the mitochondrial DNA. In focusing on this, and exclusively this element of genetic engineering, opponents of a ban managed to avoid any debate over genetic engineering purely for enhancement purposes. Indeed, Professor Silver seemed to distance himself from the more controversial opinions he espoused in his book, Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform...
The debate quickly turned to focus on mitochondrial disease, a group of disorders caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, the organelles that generate energy for the cell and a new technique for treating such diseases that would, for the first time, allow the creation of babies whose genes have been intentionally altered by replacing the mitochondrial DNA. In focusing on this, and exclusively this element of genetic engineering, opponents of a ban managed to avoid any debate over genetic engineering purely for enhancement purposes. Indeed, Professor Silver seemed to distance himself from the more controversial opinions he espoused in his book, Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform...