An article from Nature.com, an international journal of science, announced that scientists have called a moratorium on gene-editing research in human embryos. Many questions have been raised about possible safety and ethical issues regarding the research. Through this controversial method, known as germline modification, researchers can edit the genetic makeup of an embryo, egg or sperm cell. Its applications range from changing physical attributes and creating "designer babies", to modifying mitochondrial DNA to avoid inheritance of certain disease-causing mutations.
Many related trails of monkey and human embryos have proved to be very successful. Xingxu Huang of ShanghaiTech University in China and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California have tested both physical and pathological alterations and believe the implications to be positive. The techniques used in these studies could one day aid in in-vitro fertilization, and significantly reduce the number of mitochondrial defects passed from mother to child.
Although promising, the effect of these new techniques are daunting to many scientists. Many ethical questions are raised about such a procedure. Since the traits that scientists would be engineering are permanent, passed down throughout progeny, and applied without consent from the individual -embryo - some remain doubtful of global acceptance. Also the idea of engineering "designer babies", where parents have control over physical attributes of their child is disconcerting. Where this technology is headed or if scientists will continue researching this techinque, no one may know. However, if used properly and carefully, it may prove to be useful in eradicating disease-causing mutations.
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