Michael Estrada
Ms. Moskowitz
ENC 1101
29 September 2015
Gene Editing and Society Technology has helped humanity in almost every aspect of everyday life. It has made life so much easier that it has become almost impossible to live without. In Dr. Richard Restaks “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era”, and Alexandra Samuels “Plug In Better’: A Manifesto” they both go into detail on how technology has affected today’s society, and how it has changed human behavior to rely on it to such a degree that people have become addicted to technology as if they need it for their very survival. Both Restak and Samuel talk about how technology has made humanity more connected to each other and yet has also disconnected each other at the same time and to the real world. People use technology so much in their everyday lives to solve problems and to carry out tasks that they no longer control its effects on them, whereas before people had to rely on their own individual talents, skills, and efforts to get tasks completed. Gene therapy and other cutting edge medical techniques like all technology, has incredible life changing potential as well as possible side effects Recently the scientific community has discovered Gene Editing. Gene Editing is the changing and or manipulation of the human DNA, to create certain characteristics or can be used as a method of curing a disease or disorder. There have been many disputes on whether this newfound invention should be practiced and
I found Weintraub’s article to be the most down to earth and approachable when it comes to the topic of Gene editing. In the article, she mentions several reasons why gene editing can be beneficial including stopping progressive diseases, such as dementia, completely in their tracks. Weintraub even suggests that gene editing could be used to save certain animals that are facing extinction due to genetic abnormalities or diseases. On the flipside, she brings up a very interesting point about how some parents may not want to use gene editing to heal their children, but rather to “improve” them by altering their genes to make them taller, more athletic, skinnier, etc. Weintraub also worries that utilizing gene editing this manner might end up
The idea of extending human’s life has been a controversy for many years, since the scientific revolution of 1543. Since then, our medical field has brought new technology, that offers us to make this idea possible. However, this technology has brought up stakeholders that are among the medical community and patients, since they are using our genes and changing them to creating a longer life. Scientist call this process gene editing which is "the ability to precisely and accurately change any part of any genome" (Andrew, par 1). Where the genome can be determined as "one haploid set of chromosomes with the genes" ("Genome"). Making the most complex species of chromosomes are changeable, by a simple attachment or detachment of nucleotides: T, A, C, and G making up our very own DNA. However, this idea has brought spouses to believe that using gene editing, to eliminate disease which is passed on making then not being a problem anymore. But on the other hand, there are some who fear the change, believing in their moral beliefs, that messing with the balances of life and death, causing interference. Arguing that we should just allow these defaults since we born as.
Human gene editing has long been controversial topic; however, precise techniques that accomplish this feat have only recently been discovered. According to the Welcome Genome Campus in the UK, the most versatile and simplest technique, called CRISPR-Cas9, allows scientists to cut, alter, or add to sections of the DNA sequence of living organisms (“What Is CRISPR-Cas9?”). This astonishing technology has nearly endless applications, including the potential to eradicate genetic diseases in humans that currently have no cure. This could have vast implications for people who suffer with disease and the economy of the region in which they live, but the technology has yet to be commercialized. The
Gene editing has far reaching implications and the best way to address them are to encourage healthy debate, transparency in science and consider the ethical –societal impacts (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 2016). The answers pertaining to these discourses often divergent and inconsistent however as long as discussions are happening purposefully in public we are doing something right. For technologies such as gene editing scientists developing these should shoulder the responsibility to make all empirical data and predictive model freely available to public in transparent and coherent format. Gene editing with its vast potential and applications is still not popular and accepted by the society. One of the pertinent question is what is stopping us from making gene editing a regular daily application. Public engagement, lack of regulatory regimes and ethical dilemma are three aspects that is holding gene editing intervention from expanding. In a
Based on gene editing’s current technology, I believe that it should not be a general medical practice; however, as the technology advances, professionals should be allowed to modify human genes but only restrict this to somatic cells. I believe that this distinction should be made due to the technology’s current issues and the ethics pertaining to gene modification.
Gene editing is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, replaced or removed from the Genome or the genetic material of an organism. This treatment saved the life of one year old Layla. She was diagnosed with Leukemia and after several failed treatments, her parents turned to gene editing. Layla’s doctors performed experimental gene therapy on her, they inserted immune cells from a healthy donor into her body. The immune cells fought off the cancerous cells in her marrow.She is an example of someone’s life that was saved by gene editing.Due to the publicity this story has gotten more patients have the option of pursuing gene editing in hopes for a cure.
Our world is in a constant state of flux. Changes are being made every second of the day, and this is only natural to life. So it shouldn’t come to a surprise with how rapidly advance our medical science is becoming. Why does nature spew new innovations? Because in order to survive, all living things have to overcome numerous obstacles in life. Therefore, scientists are constantly developing new technologies to reduce the hurdles of humans. This includes the method of genome-editing that may alter human DNA. However, there are many concern about the consequences of genome alteration as this will affect the individual and their future generation (Wade). We don’t know for certain what lies beyond this. While it makes a highly promising invention for a multiplicity of uses, could we be tampering with nature?
Gene editing has been a big technological topic that has been talked about a lot over the last few years. Is it ethical? Does it promote social justice? Is it good for the environment? I personally do not think it promotes any of these ideas. It signifies the idea that the rich get richer, and gene editing has a huge ethical complication. Not to mention that it is not the most natural thing to be able to edit genes to someone’s liking.
There’s really no reason to stop scientists from doing gene editing, but researchers need to be careful and no one is yet ready to do germline editing that could be passed on to future generations. Gene editing is a wonderful thing that could change the world, but I don’t think we are ready for it yet.
Human genome editing has the impact to be life altering. Human Genome editing impacts social, political, as well as ethnical issues (Kane). It can cure diseases such as cancer and save lives by allowing humans to alter genetic defects. Humans will be able to create the “perfect person.” However, human genome editing also has the impact to create fear. Adolf Hitler attempted to create the “perfect person” and all of History knows how that ended.
Medical research and discoveries have rapidly expanded in the past decade due to the advancement of technology. Genetic alterations are just one of the many discoveries made by scientists in 1973. Some people argue that genetic engineering is wrong and shouldn’t be legal, but some people think that this is a good idea and should be practiced. Genetic alterations should be accepted by society because they enhance characteristics, prevent diseases from spreading, and can give people things they never had or had the chance of getting.
Medical research and discoveries have rapidly expanded in the past decade due to the advancement of technology. Genetic alterations are just one of the many discoveries made by scientists in 1973. Some people argue that genetic engineering is wrong and shouldn’t be legal, but some people think that this is a good idea and should be practiced. Genetic alterations should be accepted by society because they enhance characteristics, prevent diseases from spreading, and can give people things they never had or had the chance of getting.
In order to explore the ethical landscape of genome editing, it is first necessary to discuss the range of methods, the differing goals, and the recent advances in this biotechnology. According to the director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins, genome editing is an “area of research seeking to modify genes of living organisms to improve our understanding of gene function and advance potential therapeutic applications to correct genetic abnormalities.” More specifically, different gene-editing technologies have the goals of “precise manipulation of gene sequences in their natural chromosomal context and addition of transgenes to specific genomic loci.” Genome editing technologies have a wide range
Gene editing, or genome engineering is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Genetic modification created by human activity has been occurring since around 12,000 BC, when humans first began to domesticate organisms. This was later to be known as selective breeding, where you take your most desirable organisms and you breed them to get an enhanced offspring.
For years, scientists have discussed the notion of editing a human genome to completely banish all inherited diseases by replacing a mutant gene with a healthy one. This idea became popularized in 1996 when Scottish researchers successfully cloned a sheep. DNA from an adult sheep was implanted into an unfertilized egg and then placed in a surrogate mother. This resulted in an identical twin carrying the same DNA as the original adult sheep. This was the first time many people considered cloning as a possibility for the future and this experiment sparked controversy across the world. Science has developed immensely since 1996 and in todays news there is a lot of talk regarding human genome editing. The biggest issue is the ethics of changing a natural code using new technology that has not been studied thoroughly. “The technology is new, and the risks of a mistake are magnified by the fact that the genetic changes would be passed along to offspring” (Adams). While many people are opposed to gene editing, some argue that it could be the biggest breakthrough of modern science.