Human Genetic Modification
Human genetic modification (or “gene editing”) can be used in two very different ways. Somatic genome editing changes the genes in a patient’s cells to treat a medical condition. A few gene therapies are approaching clinical use but remain extraordinarily expensive.
By contrast, heritable genome editing would change genes in eggs, sperm, or early embryos to try to control the traits of a future child. Such alterations would affect every cell of the resulting person and all subsequent generations.
For safety, ethical, and social reasons, heritable genome editing is widely considered unacceptable. It is prohibited in 70 countries and by a binding international treaty. Nevertheless, in 2018 one scientist announced the birth of twins whose embryos he had edited. This reckless experiment intensified debate between advocates of heritable genome editing and those concerned it could exacerbate inequality and lead to a new, market-based eugenics.
Genome editing is a way of making changes to specific parts of a genome. Scientists have been able to alter DNA...
Public and policy conversations about heritable human genome editing often leave the impression that rules governing it are few and...
This webcast explores the new techniques of synthetic biology and gene editing, and their capacity to redesign nature, from seeds to insects to people.
The technologies are being rapidly developed and robustly funded, in most cases well ahead of safety assessments, public engagement, and social oversight. What does this mean for people and the planet – and what can we do about it?
- Dana Perls, Friends of the Earth
- Ricarda Steinbrecher, EcoNexus
- Jaydee Hanson, Center for Food Safety
- Pete Shanks, Center for Genetics and Society
Moderated by Marcy Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society
If you were unable to join us, or would like to see the webcast again, click below to watch the event in its entirety.
You can find written replies to some of the questions and comments that were submitted by participants here.
Environmental activist and author Bill McKibben talks about why he wrote Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (2003), how it was received, and what this experience might tell us about communicating and organizing in support of practices and policies addressing human biotechnology, both domestically and internationally. Bill also shares his thoughts about ways in which the issues of climate change and human biotech can be understood as facets of a single dynamic involving the technological manipulation and transformation of the natural world, including plants, animals, humans and ecosystems. Bill is interviewed by Center for Genetics and Society associate executive director Marcy Darnovsky.
NBC's Today Show featured CGS's Marcy Darnovsky in a segment on "designer babies," aired on March 3, 2009.