The concept of genetically engineering the genome to pass along changes to future generations has been a serious topic of study over decades for a wide range of people, including the subject of movies and books. However, until the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, the specificity and efficacy of any genetic engineering system was never even close to reaching levels to take the discussion beyond theory and speculation. The efficiency of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in nonhuman zygotes to create genetically engineered animal models took the possibility of doing the same in humans beyond speculation into the realm of possible. It has prompted a global discussion of the technical, ethical, societal, and governance aspects of the potential of heritable human editing. These discussions are ongoing and international in scope. The broad consensus is that, because there remains a lack of clarity around technical, ethical, societal, and governance issues, creating a human pregnancy from genome-edited zygotes, genome-edited gametes, or genome-edited germ cell precursors should not be permitted. Anyone proceeding with such an activity at this time demonstrates profound hubris and pathologic disrespect for humanity and should be considered a rogue actor and treated accordingly as a criminal.

Even if a broad positive consensus on technical, ethical, societal, and governance issues were one day attained, the need for heritable genome editing to prevent a child born with a devastating disease is remarkably small. The need is small because of the already available alternatives, especially the use of in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis to identify zygotes who wound not carry the disease, and subsequent implantation of only those zygotes not at risk in vitro fertilization [IVF]/ pre-implantation genetic diagnosis [PGD]. The number of couples for whom in vitro fertilization [IVF]/pre-implantation genetic diagnosis [PGD] would not be a way to have a healthy child is nonzero but continues to be almost academic in nature. The need will become even smaller as effective curative somatic cell therapies are developed over the coming years—therapies that the FDA predicts will be approved in the near future at tens or more per year. The paradox that by curing more patients while maintaining fertility we might actually increase the number of patients who would then need to undergo the same postnatal curative therapy. This then becomes an argument about economics as well as ethics.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

أهالي كربلاء يحيون اليوم السابع لذكرى شهادة الإمام الحسين (عليه السلام)

مشروع أمير القراء الوطني يشهد مشاركة أكثر من 100 طالبٍ في مرحلته الثالثة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يصدر دليلًا يوثّق القصص الفائزة في مسابقة فتوى الدفاع المقدسة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يعلن عن توفير عددٍ من المكتبات الإلكترونية المتخصّصة للمؤسّسات الدينية والمكتبات العامّة

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

نصائح عملية للحد من التعرق المفرط في الصيف

أطباء يحذرون: مكمل غذائي شائع قد يدمر الجهاز العصبي

تحذير طبي من تأثير جانبي "غير متوقع" لحقن التخسيس

حمامات الثلج قد تكون خطيرة وأحيانا مميتة.. ما السبب؟

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

أكبر جدارية شمسية في العالم تدخل موسوعة غينيس.. مشروع ضخم

تسارع دوران الأرض يثير القلق.. وتحذيرات من "كوارث محتملة" ؟

"سوذبيز" تطرح أكبر قطعة من المريخ على الأرض في مزاد علني

أوبن أيه آي تعتزم إطلاق متصفح إنترنت يعمل بالذكاء الاصطناعي

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Challenges to in Vivo Editing of Hematopoietic Stem Cells

EX Vivo Manufacturing of Therapeutic Cells

Using Engineered Nucleases to Initiate the Genome Editing Process

Base Editing

Double-stranded DNA breaks: the basis of nuclease-based genome editing

Plaque and Colony Hybridization for Clone Identification

Cloning from RNA

Plasmid Vectors

كلونة النعجة دولي Cloning Dolly the sheep

ادخال الجينات في الخلايا البدائية النواة

أدوات نقل الـ DNA نواقل الكلونة (cloning vehicles)

أدوات كلونة الجين المتعاقبة