Human genetic engineering is coming. We must discuss the social and political implications now
By Samira Kiani,
The Globe and Mail
| 05. 06. 2022
photo by the He Lab
In October, 2018, I was invited to a secret meeting in Guangzhou, China. I was there because of my work as a genetic scientist who uses the CRISPR technology to cut and splice DNA, an approach to genetic engineering that has come to the forefront over the past decade. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that CRISPR, a precise and efficient tool that allows us to “edit” genes, is on the verge of altering the course of human history to an extent far greater than the recent “disruptions” catalyzed by internet technology. If you think digital surveillance tools are frightening in the hands of autocracy, consider the power to bend the human genome to one’s will. CRISPR provides that power. To use another analogy, the ability to edit genes with surgical precision is a scientific discovery on par with nuclear fission – while there may be beneficial applications, it is by nature seductive to our darkest impulses.
Because of CRISPR’s unknown risks, its use has been limited to certain applications by longstanding consensus... see more
Related Articles
Image by Avopeas, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that it would be irresponsible to perform heritable human genome editing – that is, to engineer the genes and traits of future children – unless and until “there is broad societal consensus about the appropriateness of the proposed application.” But how would we know if that goal had been achieved?
The only way to determine this would be through a robust process of public deliberation. Professional scientists...
Several new opinion polls on human biotechnology issues have recently come to our attention and two of them are discussed here. As is all too typical of polling on these complex matters, it is not clear that respondents were aware of, or informed about, key background information that would shield them from drawing false conclusions, as discussed below. (For summaries of these and older opinion polls on topics related to heritable human genome editing and cloning or genetically modifying animals...
By Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review | 07.12.2022
A volunteer in New Zealand has become the first person to undergo DNA editing in order to lower their blood cholesterol, a step that may foreshadow wide use of the technology to prevent heart attacks.
The experiment, part of a...
By Carissa Wong, New Scientist | 07.01.2022
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
A new form of the genome-editing technique CRISPR could provide a more accurate way to edit mutations that cause genetic diseases. The approach, which was tested in fruit flies, fixes a genetic mutation on one...