Innovative technology using CRISPR/Cas9 editing has, for many, turned their worries into incipient realities. CRISPR technology (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) exploits a system important for bacterial immunity to cleave DNA & insert particular sequences, thus facilitating quick & effective genome editing.
Despite the incredible advances this brings to genetic engineering, it has not been utilized to its full potential. Since this kind of editing can be used in living cells, it can be used to alter the germ line, and create embryos with heritable, permanent changes to the genome.
Scientific opinion on the ethical implications of altering genomes is beginning to shift, however. After studies were published that used CRISPR/Cas9 to edit monkey and human cells, and despite calls for a moratorium on these kinds of experiments, a consortium of researchers called the Hinxton Group announced last week that they are in favor of human germline modification & the valuable research that may result. Moreover, Nature reported this morning that a team of researchers from the Francis Crick Institute (London) have applied for a license to use embryo gene editing to study early human development.
Despite these steps forward, there still worries about the ethical implications of altering human embryos, including patient safety & the capability to produce designer offspring.
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