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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: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @05:14PM (2 children)
"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."
oh please! it was OK for you to create crispr but it's not OK for someone else to use it in a way you don't see fit? designer babies is pandora's box? i thought you already opened it with crispr?
so full of shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @09:58PM
You know your argument only makes sense if the ONLY application for crispr is to make designer babies - but unfortunately for you that is not the case.
Its like you're saying the inventor of the pencil shouldn't decry its misuse because someone wants to go full John Wick with it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @10:38PM
You are so right!
I don't understand why we aren't using H-bombs and aerosolized bio-weapons/nerve agents every. single. day.
Pandora's box is open. Let's get on the stick!
Nuke 'em til they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!