In response to ongoing developments related to claims that the world’s first genetically edited babies have been born in China, Dr. Jennifer Doudna, professor of chemistry and molecular & cell biology at UC Berkeley and co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, issued the following updated statement:
“It is imperative that the scientists responsible for this work fully explain their break from the global consensus that application of CRISPR-Cas9 for human germline editing should not proceed at the present time. It is important for the public to consider the following points:
The clinical report has not been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Because the data have not been peer reviewed, the fidelity of the gene editing process cannot be evaluated. The work as described to date reinforces the urgent need to confine the use of gene editing in human embryos to cases where a clear unmet medical need exists, and where no other medical approach is a viable option, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.
It is essential that this news not detract from the many important clinical efforts to use CRISPR technology to treat and cure disease in adults and in children. Public and transparent discussion of the many uses of genome editing technology must continue, as is happening over the next three days at the Human Genome Editing Summit in Hong Kong.”
Watch: Jennifer Doudna is interviewed today on Skype (Her interview starts at 1:10 in the video.)
Read: Doudna is quoted in the Washington Post, on NPR and in Vox.
The global group of national academies of science, including the U.S.’s NAS, issued a statement today calling for caution and public inpu t in the international dialogue on human gene editing.
t in the international dialogue on human gene editing. On Thursday, Jennifer Doudna will moderate a panel on “Public Engagement Efforts” at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong. It starts at 11:30 a.m. local time. The livestream of that panel, and the entire summit, can be followed online here.
CRISPR inventor calls for pause in editing heritable genes (With video, 2015)
Scientists urge caution in using new CRISPR technology to treat human genetic disease (With video, 2015)
TheLoneSparky on November 27th, 2018 at 17:59 UTC »
I want a better body for one. Higher intelligence, faster metabolism, higher immunity to debuffs, faster muscle growth, perfect skin, better lungs and heart, more longevity (possible immortality). You know standard things.
combatcameraguy on November 27th, 2018 at 17:41 UTC »
China isn't going to wait for the world to let them do something. They know about overpopulation. They know about pollution. They know about slave labor workforce. It doesn't stop them. Some science consortium is gonna write letters and make statements to China about how bad this is and blah blah blah, when its probably already been done years ago and the world is just now learning about it.
RoaringSilence on November 27th, 2018 at 16:23 UTC »
Pandoras box was opened, there is no chances of closing it again. On the other hand I see no chance of being a space traveling mankind and/or surviving the next thousand years without adopting and engineering the human body.
The question to start is when, not if.