Join the debate on human genome editing!
By Yeyang Su,
Impact Ethics [cites CGS' Marcy Darnovsky]
| 11. 03. 2018
At the end of this month, the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing will be held in Hong Kong. In the invitation to participants, the local host and President of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, Dr Lap-Chee Tsui takes care to note that: “[o]f particular concern is the possibility of heritable genome editing… and applications for purposes other than to treat disease or disability.”
The possibility of heritable human genome editing is what propelled the United States National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, United Kingdom’s Royal Society, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to co-organize the First International Summit on Human Gene Editing three years ago, in Washington. This Summit was a response to the first published study in human embryos using CRISPR-Cas9 – then a newly discovered genome editing tool characterized by “unprecedented efficiency and stunning ease of use.”The research led by Junjiu Huang and Canquan Zhou at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, aimed to modify the endogenous β-globin gene that causes β-thalassaemia. β-thalassaemia affects about 2% of people in China, ...
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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...
