Last week’s historic summit on human gene-editing has come to a close, and its organising committee has given the go-ahead for scientists in the US to experiment on human genes — only if it doesn’t result in a pregnancy. It’s a surprisingly progressive stance. But make no mistake, human trait selection is coming. Here’s why we’ll eventually accept the prospect of genetically modified “designer babies”.
The three-day International Summit on Human Gene Editing, held in Washington, D.C., brought together some of the world’s leading geneticists and bioethicists to discuss the prospect of editing the human genome.
The need for the summit arose earlier this year after scientists in China announced that they had genetically modified human embryos. Using a powerful and remarkably simple DNA cut-and-paste tool called CRISPR, the scientists modified a gene responsible for a fatal blood disorder. The resulting embryos were destroyed, but the achievement raised alarm bells among many scientists and ethicists. It was particularly significant because the scientists performed germline modifications, which means the edits would be heritable, i.e., they’d be passed down to the next generation.
Last week, the members of the organising committee issued a statement summarising its conclusions. They concluded it was OK for scientists to edit the genetic sequences of human cells, so long as it doesn’t result in a pregnancy. The committee’s recommendations were surprisingly reasonable — and even a bit progressive — especially considering the degree of concern expressed in previous months. Some scientists — even those who helped to develop CRISPR — went so far as to demand a moratorium on the practice. So this is good news. Science will be allowed to move forward.
At the same time, the committee made it clear that it’s not ready to accept the prospect of “designer babies”. Not only did they agree that the technology is still grossly premature (which is true), they also argued that this practice might never be accepted for technical, practical, and moral reasons.
The cat is out of the bag. CRISPR technology will not only result in human germ line modifications, ethically motivated or not, but the genetic engineering of all manner of horrific weaponized biology. Better get used to it. To read more, click here.