Should Heritable Gene Editing Be Used on Humans?

The development of technology that allows human genes to be edited has stirred tremendous excitement about the potential for treating debilitating and life-threatening diseases. The technology could lead to drugs that would treat cancers and other diseases that currently are incurable.

But another facet of this breakthrough has many scientists and others worried: the possibility that the genetic makeup of sperm and eggs could be edited so that diseases that can be inherited won’t be passed on to children yet to be born. One concern is that gene editing that affects future generations, not just an individual, is too risky given our still incomplete understanding of the human genome and how changes might affect it. Another is that the ability to edit heritable traits could result in so-called designer babies, with parents choosing traits such as intelligence or physical characteristics.

Others say we can meet those challenges, and the potential benefits are too great to pass up.

George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, favors a careful exploration of the potential of heritable gene editing. Marcy Darnovsky, executive...