Ethics of embryo editing divides scientists

This article is about scientists who agree that the use of powerful gene techniques on human embryos needs to be restricted. But they are divided amongst each other as to why. Some say that if safety is not an issue then the applications could have a bright future and eradicate diseases. On the other hand, some say that modifying the DNA of embryos is an ethical line that should not be crossed.

These gene modifying techniques use enzymes called nucleases to change DNA at specific points and basically rewrite the genetic information. A recent event was from Sangamo BioSciences of Richmond, California. They used an older gene modifying technology zinc-finger nucleases to remove a gene from white-blood cells that encodes the receptor to which HIV binds to enter the cells.

There is no divide amongst scientists that this technology can do some amazing things and have usefulness. The divide comes from the concerns of the use of gene editing to modify the genomes of eggs and fertilized eggs. Some concerns are that parents will want to use this technology to simply change a child’s eye color. Groups that do not agree with this technology say that we are humans and not transgenic rats. There are clear ethic issues in this topic. Would we be crossing the boundary to modifying human genes?

Reference
Cyranoski, D. (2015, March). Ethics of embryo editing divides scientists : Nature News & Comment. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/news/ethics-of-embryo-editing-divides-scientists-1.17131