Genome Editing: The Age of the Red Pen
By The Economist,
The Economist [Cites CGS]
| 08. 22. 2015
IN THE summer of 2005 Karen Aiach and her husband received heartbreaking news about their four-month-old daughter, Ornella: she had a rare disorder known as Sanfilippo syndrome. The prognosis was that, from about the age of three, the disorder would gradually rob her of most of her cognitive abilities. She would probably develop a severe sleep disorder and become hyperactive and aggressive. She was unlikely to live into her teens; she certainly would not survive them.
The problem was that Ornella lacked a working copy of a specific gene. It is a gene that tells the body how to make a particular protein which is involved in clearing up cellular debris. Without that protein the cells of her body were unable to break down a complex sugar molecule, heparan sulphate. It is the build-up of that molecule in brain cells that lies behind the symptoms of the syndrome. If her cells could make that protein, the situation might, in principle, be reversed. Learning this, Ms Aiach embarked on a ten-year search for a way to correct the error in her...
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The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
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