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from the just-because-we-can-doesn't-mean-that-we-should dept.
One of CRISPR's inventors has called for controls on gene-editing technology
Regulators need to pay more attention to controlling CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing tool, says Jennifer Doudna.[*]
The anniversary is that of the announcement by a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, that he had created gene-edited twin girls. That was a medical felony as far as Doudna is concerned, an unnecessary experiment that violated the doctor’s rule to avoid causing harm and ignored calls not to proceed.
“I believe that moratoria are no longer strong enough countermeasures,” she writes, adding that there are “moments in the history of every disruptive technology that can make or break its public perception and acceptance.”
But the same advances mean that “the temptation to tinker with the human germline” is not going to go away, Doudna says. That language—tinkering and temptation—makes it clear she thinks designer babies are a Pandora’s box we might not want to open.
Doudna specifically calls out Russia, since a scientist there is bidding to use the technology again to make babies.
[*] Wikipedia entry on Jennifer Doudna.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @03:10PM (4 children)
I've seen multiple people harmed by doctors passing out pills without proper monitoring of the side effects. Psychiatrists are the worst.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @03:32PM
Exactly. The Hippocratic Oath is 100% dependent on cultural norms.
As an example today if a young boy today claims to be a girl a psychiatrist may, after testing, propose injecting them with chemicals to artificially postpone puberty and consider lopping off their penis as well as also injecting them with estrogen. I think that humanity is going to look back at this akin to how we now look back at the idea of treating mental illness by drilling holes into peoples' heads (lobotomies). It seems barbaric now a days but somehow we, as a society, continue to accept really really bizarre ideas especially when it comes to mental issues. Perhaps it was the same issue then -- people don't want to speak out because it seems arrogant or intolerant.
(Score: 2) by Deeo Kain on Monday November 18 2019, @06:32PM (2 children)
I do wonder what harm was it caused in that instance?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @06:53PM
Total paranoia, bed wetting, unable to work or maintain relationships, etc
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 18 2019, @10:39PM
Just ask MDC!
Oh...wait..............
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---