Now We Can Edit the Human Genome, The Question Is: Should We?

Researchers in Guangzhou wrote a scientific paper about editing the DNA of a non-viable human embryo for the journal Protein and Cell. The news was met with trepidation. Researchers are eager for tools to cure genetic diseases, but others label the methods as unethical. The researchers, examining embryos with a gene that causes a hereditary blood disorder, applied a “gene editor, a co-operative group of molecules known as CRISPR, which scientists have borrowed from bacteria” and allows them to “chop out a particular sequence of DNA,” writes Michael Brooks for the New Statesman. Had the embryo been allowed to grow the experiment may have led to unintended mutations, possibly because of older CRISPR techniques. The journals Nature and Science refused to publish the paper, and many researchers called for a halt to the research. Brooks calls for scientists around the globe to read the study and debate the issues thoroughly, concluding that some genetic diseases are so dire that cures by such means could be welcome. Individual scientists will be tempted to perfect the research, and global agreement on a ban could be impossible. – YaleGlobal