Muscle-bound beagles. Hornless cows. Better potatoes. Genetically modified human embryos.
The last 12 months have been incredible ones for genetic engineering. That’s mostly due to a new technology called CRISPR—an easy, cheap, and very precise way to “edit” the DNA of living cells.
This week several hundred scientists and bioethicists are meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, to debate one of the most charged questions raised by CRISPR: whether we should ever use it to correct disease-causing genes in people before they’re born.
That idea is called “germ-line” editing, because it involves changing the DNA in sperm, eggs, or embryos. One day, gene editing might be used to avoid terrifying genetic conditions like Huntington’s disease or muscular dystrophy. Or maybe, as critics fear, it will lead to armies of blue-eyed super-intelligent babies.
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