How Far Should Gene Editing Go

With the research and breakthroughs of gene editing and engineering being new and a foreign territory to many countries, there’s not proper legislation in place to ensure this technology is not misused within the United States. While Britain has an agency that is targeted towards both the public and private research, the United States still lacks this structure and accountability (Green, 2007). In the United States, the public research is very regulated while private research doesn’t have an overseeing organization. The real question lies, under what agency or federal organization does gene editing fall into. The author I.H Carmen suggested the President’s Commission of Bioethics (Carmen, 2004). This would be beneficial because then all states would be on the same platform on this issue. However, the Commission primarily advises the president and the president can choose very easily not to follow the advice the council is giving. Another possibility is the

CRISPR Cas9 is a gene editing tool that can be used to edit, delete, and change parts of the genome. What makes CRISPR Cas9 different from other gene editing techniques such as Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) or Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALEN) is its targeting efficiency ability. For example, ZFNs and TALENs could only reach targeting efficiencies from 1% to 50% in human cells. On the other hand, CRISPR Cas9 had a much higher rate at greater than 70% in Zebrafish and plants. (Reis, 2014). CRISPR Cas9 is still being heavily researched by scientists today, because although many advancements have been made since its discovery in 1993, it is far from ready to be used commonly. Successful studies and experiments with this gene

Scientists, for some time now, have been concerned about the dangers of altering the human germ line. Until now, the worries have been purely theoretical. But a technique invented recently makes it possible to edit the genome precisely and with much greater ease. The technique holds the power to repair or enhance any human gene. Genetic labs around the world are adapting this technique for they believe the benefits to be boundless. However, considering the ethical complications of genome editing affecting future generations, scientists have called for a moratorium on human genome editing, that would alter human DNA in a way that can be inherited until issues of safety and efficiency are addressed. I believe there should be a more or less permanent

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?

In a recent article in the New York Times, it mentions that gene and DNA alterations is being perfected sooner than we thought. We are getting so close to perfecting this that “a group of leading biologists called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of a new genome-editing technique that would alter human DNA in a way that can be inherited”. Theses scientist do not think this modification is ethical. George Q. Daley, a stem cell expert says “this raises the most fundamental of issues about how we are going to view our humanity in the future and whether we are going to take the dramatic step of modifying our own germline and in a sense take control of our genetic destiny” Volti talks about how some people would take gene alternation to the next level. Genetics is “taken to the extreme, expanding knowledge about genetics holds out the promise-or the threat-of what the eminent biologist Edward O. Wilson has called “volitional evolution”, that is, directing human’s heredity to favor some traits while extinguishing others” (Volti, 59).

CRISPR-Cas9 has recently become a popular set of tools for genetic engineering. By targeting specific DNA sequences, biotechnology can edit portions of organism’s genome by adding, replacing, or deleting sequences of DNA. Biotechnology also allows genes to be transferred from one organisms to another. The system uses a modified bacterial protein and a RNA to guide it to a specific DNA sequence. Scientist have also found ways to use these tools to send proteins to DNA targets to remove or add genes. When there is a significant error during repair, an entire sequence can become altered and the CRISPR system can study what happened to the cell which this error occurred in. The system has opened up new possibilities for discovering all areas of

In fact, at the current time, scientists still lack the information on whether the process of using CRISPR-Cas9 will have any bad effects on people or not. In fact, even the most advanced technology can still make a mistake once in a while and hence this method is not accepted by many scientists. In addition, gene editing also create a new utopian world for many people, where obsession with perfectionism fills everyone’s heart as they look for way to create the best and most powerful race. By attempting to achieve such delusion, people have gone against their own moral and will further destroy the future of their own children. Furthermore, the process of gene editing will extend the huge gap between the poor and the rich. At the same time, it creates a new generation where people value will now be decided before they are born and those who are valuable might just be clones of

Although gene editing tools could cause unintended irreversible mistakes, further studies and regulations could lead these tools to become successful and effective ways of medical treatment. However, these tools should be regulated and further tested before becoming a legalized treatment. The National Academy of Science comments that “Heritable germline genome editing trials must be approached with caution, but caution does not mean that they must be prohibited” (Regalado). Editing the germline and utilizing gene editing tools could be utilized for trials, but should be proceeded with cautions. As gene editing tools evolve to change diseases, scientists are eager to utilize CRISPR without considering pitfalls. Instituting more caution would

More recently, CRISPR has been used to edit human embryos, making inheritable changes to the human genome, editing crop genomes, and the first human trial was approved by the National Institute of Health in 2016 (“CRISPR Timeline”, n.d.).

Crispr is a new tool developed to edit genomes. This tool is significantly more precise, efficient, and flexible than technology previously used. Because of this

One of the most recent discoveries was done by researcher Jennifer Doudna with the breakthrough of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. CRISPR, Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, is a phenomenal mechanism that can operate with a protein titled as Cas9 which contains the capability to individually degrade viral DNA. The CRISPR-Cas9 system is a newly developed technique utilized to modify genomes within the body to cure specific genetic diseases. Three main types of the entire CRISPR system actually exist, although there are several subtypes within the separations that depend on a variety of situations. Through the complexities of the system, researchers have been able to become motivated and continue to gain further knowledge

More recently, CRISPR has been used to edit human embryos, make inheritable changes to the human genome, and to edit crop genomes. Meanwhile, the first human trial was approved by the National Institute of Health in 2016 (“CRISPR Timeline”, n.d.).

Genetic modification of human embryos is an issue of utmost relevance as technology continually advances, with recent findings offering prospects that could only be covered in science fiction, and thus I feel a discussion is necessary to think properly about the implications of this progress. The embryo is the combination of sperm and egg cell that is the building block of us all, the genes that determine who we are. It is this original stage of human life that is important as it can now be modified due to advancements in genetic modification, offering the chance to prevent genetic diseases as the relevant sequence of DNA that would be responsible for it can be cut out and replaced. This is shown through developments in Asia, as the first use of a pioneering gene editing system CRISPR/Cas 9 to cure the genetic disease β-thalassaemia (Liang et al., 2015), which is a blood disorder that can be fatal. This indicates why embryos are a subject of experimentation, as they can potentially be engineered so that a disease is eradicated. Developments are putting molecular biology in the spotlight of the media (Knapton, 2015) and creating opportunities that are both exciting and worrying, putting the human identity into question. This is because our genes’ code for proteins that decide our

Good afternoon, I want to first ask you to imagine a future where there are no diseases, no genetic defects, and life can be prolonged. The truth is this future you are imagining is really not so far off, but how do we get to a future like this? Well with the introduction of technologies such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or simply put CRISPR- cas9 gene editing has been made a lot easier, cheaper and safer. With these new gene editing technologies the question is even more prominent than ever has been, should we edit the human gene. Today with the rotary four way test I will prove to you that gene editing should be allowed to be experimented with and researched. I will do this by asking the four questions – is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and friendship to all concerned, and will it be beneficial to all concerned.

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.