Gene-edited babies: no one has the moral warrant to go it alone
By Katie Hasson and Marcy Darnovsky,
The Guardian
| 11. 27. 2018
The fierce global controversy over whether to alter the genes of future children and generations just got fiercer. On the eve of a high-profile scientific meeting in Hong Kong on human gene editing, the Chinese researcher and biotech entrepreneur He Jiankui announced he had already created genetically modified humans, twin girls born a few weeks ago.
The reckless actions of one scientist cannot and should not pre-empt the global public conversation over whether to proceed with reproductive germline editing, as the procedure is known. In fact, the conversation is now more urgent and necessary than ever. There’s a huge amount at stake for all of us.
As knowledge of human genetics grew during the decades around the turn of the millennium, policymakers in dozens of countries came to agree that developing safe, effective gene therapies for sick people should be strongly supported, and that “germline” or “heritable” genetic modification, which would threaten fundamental human rights and equality, should be put off limits. The clearest and most forceful expression of that view was the Council of Europe’s 1997 Convention on...
Related Articles
By Rob Stein, NPR | 09.30.2025
Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues...
By Jessica Mouzo, El País | 10.03.2025
DNA is the molecule of life: this double-helix structure, present in every cell in the body and organized into fragments called genes, stores the instructions for making organisms function. It is a highly precise biological machine, but sometimes it breaks...
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...