This Week, Top Geneticists Want to Decide If GMO Humans Are OK

The world’s top geneticists met in Washington, DC Tuesday to discuss the future of human genome editing at a summit that is among the most important ever held on the topic. By Thursday, the group hopes to decide on a tentative path forward for potential human applications of powerful gene editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, which can target and modify DNA with great specificity.

CRISPR has been hugely hyped for its potential to create safer, more precise genetically modified organisms—its promoters have suggested that we could de-extinct animals, modify mosquitoes to naturally eradicate malaria, and create drought- and heat-resistant crops for a world that’s increasingly threatened by climate change, for example. But the potential applications for CRISPR don’t stop there, of course. There’s reason to believe that scientists could edit the human genome to end genetic disease, make us live longer, and create designer babies.

Experiments on nonviable human embryos started in China earlier this year, meaning we may be close to a future where any organism can be edited. Any talk of editing humans comes with...