Now that science has been mor erefined we start to wuestion what are the bounds of ethical science? Scientists now able to change the CRISPR gene in embryos face legal guidance on if this should be legal going forward. Congressman Robert Aderholt had made a bill in 2015 stating the FDA could not review any intential germline editing drug. This to prevent any unethical science as being able to change the human genome could mean altering much more than a single genome causing catastrophic changes.
A genetic scientist Keith Joung backed up this amendment making a statement that there is no safe way to uniformily change the CRISPR genome. There may be chain reactions of change in the genome which could create mosaicism in the embryo as there is no sure way to expect the machinery to stop. In May 2025 there is scheduled to be a conference to further delegate the restrictions this genome science should have. With many thinking that without 100% certainty of clean gene splicing there are many chances of unknown risks making gene alteration a useless science with no ethical grounds.
Thank you for sharing this as it is such an interesting debate! I personally feel as though embryonic gene editing should absolutely have legal boundaries, and I hope as technology advances we don't lose our morality as well, and we keep legal boundaries in place. These advances can be abused or put people in danger.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog post very interesting because I did not realize there was an ethical debate about editing genes. I don’t think we should dismiss CRISPR altogether since it has the potential to eliminate genetic disorders. However, I do think this technology should only be used once scientists can ensure people's safety and accuracy.
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