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The Ethical Proprietaries Of Crispr-Cas. L. Dedroog. Bachelor

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The Ethical proprietaries of CRISPR-Cas

L. DEDROOG
Bachelor in de Farmaceutische en Biologische Laboratoriumtechnologie
OPO: Beroepsethiek
Academiejaar 2016-2017
UC Leuven – Limburg
Gezondheid en Welzijn • Campus Gasthuisberg
Herestraat 49 • 3000 Leuven 1. Introduction
Over the past decade there has been an enormous increase in high efficient techniques for studying the cell on a molecular level [1]. These techniques are responsible for a better understanding of the human body and the invention of a plethora of clinical treatments, ranging from cancer drugs to vaccinations [2].
Due to the increased knowledge of the human body, there should be asked what the ethical concerns might be of being able to have a surpassing …show more content…

This is done so the reader can have the fullest understanding of the concerns.
3.1 Modifying our children’s children
To exemplify this ethical aspects of CRISPR-Cas, we will view the application as a means of knocking out pathogenic genes in a fetus which might carries a heritable disease.
To knock out the pathogenic gene in a therapeutic way all cells must be affected, for this the right dosage of the nuclease (Cas9) must be administered. The delicate part is determining the right dosage; if the dosage is too low not all cells will be affected and the pathogenic gene may still be functional. On the other hand, if the dosage is too high the nuclease may cut unspecific and knock out required genes, which can even result in losing the life of the patient [3].
For this reason scientists tend to focus on modifying human embryos instead of somatic cells (after birth). In doing so the number of cells can be determined beforehand and the dose can easier be optimized. The method will be applied during in vitro fertilization, more specifically in the post fertilization period of the zygote, just before implantation in the mother. After the treatment with nuclease, the cells can be screened for the presence of the pathogen gene [8]. As a result the child will live free of the disease. Although this sounds very promising, the use of genetically modifying therapeutics on embryos awakens many ethical concerns.
The most conspicuous concern

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