A clinical trial is currently taking place in Europe to test whether gene editing can cure diseases currently with no cure like the sickle cell disease. Other diseases such as liver and eye diseases are also targets of early trials.
The process of gene editing is either by inserting, deleting, changing, or replacing cellular DNA using technology known as CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. This forms the basis for the technology which allows multiple segments of DNA to be modified at once.
While the goal of the trials is to improve the health of patients suffering from debilitating illnesses, there are also risks involved such as editing un-targetted sequences or even increasing the risks of cancer.
Read the full article on ScienceLine: First CRISPR Clinical Trial Begins in Europe
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/human-genome-editing-nuffield-bioethics/
Analysis:
Despite the risks involved in these clinical trials, the researchers believe that the upside is that blood borne diseases are well understood and there are little ethical dilemmas around the intended outcomes.
While the possibilities of what gene editing technology can enable are endless, just how appropriate are the various uses of genetic engineering would be the question that needs to be seriously considered.
In one potentially controversial case, parents can modify the genes of their future child to produce more athletic or intelligent children. It is also a possibility to dictate a child’s sexual orientation.
UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics has proposed for this vital debate to start soon as the technology is moving from laboratories to clinics. Organisations and governments are urged to start thinking about the reasons and desirability of allowing society to preselect the characteristics of future people.
Questions for further personal evaluation:
- Who gets to decide what is ethical or not?
- Do you agree with using genetic engineering to enhance humans before birth or to create what is known as ‘designer babies’?
Useful vocabulary:
- ‘cumbersome’: slow or complicated and therefore inefficient
- ‘debilitating’: (of a disease or condition) making someone very weak and infirm
Picture credits: https://unsplash.com/photos/pwcKF7L4-no