Written Evidence: NHS Science and Technology Committee's Inquiry on Genomics and Genome Editing
By Center for Genetics and Society,
National Health Service
| 10. 24. 2017
- Thank you for the opportunity to contribute evidence toward your investigation of genomics and genome editing in the NHS.
- The Center for Genetics and Society is a public-interest non-governmental organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human genetic and reproductive technologies and other emerging technologies. We work with a vibrant international network of scientists, health professionals, civil society leaders, and others. The Center supports benign and beneficent medical applications of these technologies, and opposes those applications that objectify and commodify human life and threaten to divide human society.
- In response to The Committee’s invitation for written evidence on the recommendations made by the Chief Medical Officer in ‘Generation Genome,’ and in keeping with our organizational mission, our comments focus on the importance of maintaining the existing prohibition on germline genome editing for reproduction or clinical applications, even as the NHS moves to integrate genomic medicine and somatic gene therapies. We also address some of the future lines of inquiry included in the previous committee’s report.
- Here we summarize the points that follow:
- The UK should maintain a ban on human germline editing for reproduction...
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