Leading Doctors Discussed Creating Ethical Medical Miracles at the TIME 100 Summit

Speaking at the first Time 100 Summit in New York City on Tuesday, prominent geneticist George Church admitted that for about 10 years, he knew biological weapons could be specifically targeted to individual people. But he kept it to himself. Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, participated in a panel discussing how to introduce breakthroughs in medicine, which can become life-saving miracles, in ethical and responsible ways. He discussed his decision not to share his knowledge widely as an example of a line he consciously decided not to cross for ethical reasons. “I kept that a secret and didn’t tell anybody for a decade,” he said. When another researcher shared the same idea with him years later, along with his plans to publish it in a popular title, Church questioned the choice. “I asked, ‘do you really want to do this, enabling no particular purpose?’ It was a line I didn’t cross, and wouldn’t.” Church is among the first scientists to appreciate that DNA and genes would become the biological currency of this century. He has contributed to critical advancements in gene editing, which remains controversial for its enormous power to permanently alter the human gene pool, as well as that of plants and animals. Gene editing could make it possible to erase lethal diseases, produce higher crop yields and even create healthier foods. But genetic manipulation, taken to another extreme, can create super b...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized 2019 TIME 100 t100summit Source Type: news