Search Results for: designer babies

Why CRISPR baby production (if it happened) was unethical & dangerous

Jiankui-He-who-claims-CRISPR-baby-production

Reports are out that a scientist in China has been working to make a CRISPR baby for some time and supposedly has made twin genetically modified babies. I see this work as unethical and dangerous. Just a couple years ago when I published my book GMO Sapiens on potential use of CRISPR in a heritable manner […]

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Mixed Nuffield Council Report Too Aspirational on Human Genetic Modification

Designer-baby

It’s an odd confluence of events this week that (A) the Nuffield Council, an ethics think tank, gives a thumbs up in a new report to heritable human genetic modification that would probably include using CRISPR in the same week that (B) a new paper reports that CRISPR can cause unpredictable genomic damage and several other concerning reports

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Countering that Pro-Heritable Human CRISPR WSJ Piece

human-embryo-modification

It’s germline, heritable human CRISPR time, right? Wrong. But the particularly enthusiastic supporters of heritable human CRISPR often cite hypothetical benefits in glowing terms, but either don’t mention risks or strongly downplay them. These fans also tend to leave alternative, proven and safe technologies such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) out of the discussion or

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CRISPR, human genetic modification, & a needed course correction

coverGMO-e1498086048321

Are designer babies made using CRISPR or other genetic modification technologies closer to reality today? If so, what exactly should we do about it? Researchers can use CRISPR to genetically modify just about any organism or its cells, but targeting humans is the subject of the most intense discussion including using CRISPR in the human germline

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First anti-CRISPR political campaign is born in Europe

Stop-Baby-GM

Campaigns are underway in several European countries against the possible use of genetic modification in humans to make designer babies and one has a distinctly anti-CRISPR tone. For example, in France a group is pushing an anti-GM baby campaign and the same kind of thing is going on in Switzerland, which I blogged about recently. In

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Reviews of my new book GMO Sapiens on #CRISPR & human modification

GMO-Sapiens-Book-Cover

It’s exciting that the reviews are starting to come in on my new book, GMO Sapiens, on human genetic modification including CRISPR. Here is one from The Scientist and the book was recommended by Scientific American. Reviews from individual authors and scientists are below. “GMO Sapiens could not be more timely. New technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 gene

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CRISPR embryo OK signals ongoing liberal UK trend on human modification

Kathy-Niakan

With the approval today of the use of CRISPR in human embryos, the UK continues its recent trend toward a more permissive regulatory policy on human genetic modification. There are both risks and scientific benefits that come along with this trend. Last year the UK approved an experimental technology with the goal of preventing the

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Human CRISPR TED talk

I’ve written extensively about the potential use of CRISPR in humans, including in particular in the germline where it would lead to heritable genetic modifications. Research using CRISPR in human embryos strictly for research purposes (not reproduction) is proceeding and in the case of non-viable embryos, such work has already been published (e.g. here), but

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