Experts Are Calling for a Ban on Gene Editing of Human Embryos. Here ’s Why They’re Worried

In November 2018, Chinese biophysicist Jiankui He stunned the world when he announced that he had used a controversial gene-editing technology, called CRISPR, to genetically alter the genes in embryos and give them immunity to HIV. The embryos were transferred to the woman who provided the eggs to create them, and twin girls were born. The move, considered highly experimental and unethical by most scientists around the world, prompted intense debate in the scientific community about not just the implications for the twins, but for society as well. When applied to human eggs, sperm and embryos, gene-editing technologies, of which CRISPR is the most precise, can alter the genes that people pass on to the next generation, and therefore modify the gene pool of the human species. Now, in the journal Nature, a group of 18 scientists from seven countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the U.S.) have called for a voluntary moratorium on all studies involving gene editing of human eggs, sperm or embryos — so-called germline cells. Scientists proposed a similar moratorium in 2015, a few years after CRISPR was first described. But in the newer version, the scientists go further, asking not just individual researchers to agree to stop work on gene editing human germline cells, but calling on nations to create explicit laws or regulations to prevent such studies for now, and to develop a framework for allowing the studies when they deem they are safe and ac...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Genetics Source Type: news