The Legal and Ethical Debate on Human Heritable Genome Editing (HHGE) in South Africa

The conversation around human heritable genome editing (HHGE) in South Africa is marked by controversy and conflicting interpretations of the law. At the center of this debate lies a team of lawyers based at a South African university, who have long championed a highly liberal stance toward reproductive technologies, including HHGE. Their assertions, however, have raised significant concerns among South Africa’s legal, ethical, and scientific communities.

Is heritable human genome editing already legal in South Africa?

This team has made the controversial claim that HHGE is already legal in South Africa – a position that has gained significant national and international outrage in recent days. As a non-lawyer, I have struggled to make sense of their argument which seems highly technical. Let me try to explain what I think they are saying.

Their argument seems to hinge on a specific interpretation of the National Health Act, which prohibits genetic modification for the purposes of reproductive cloning. They seem to argue that the term "reproductive" in the law should be read to refer to the purpose of the genetic manipulation –...