No, Seriously, NOT OK

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A 12-member panel, assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, concluded that it would be ethical for scientists to try to create babies that have genetic material from three different people.

Huh… what’s THAT birth certificate going to look like? “Mother”, “Father”, “Caitlyn”?

13 Comments

  3. Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Danny Devito. Twins.

    Why stop at 3? Why stop at Human? I can’t remember how many SciFi novels I’ve read where this proves to “not be a good idea” kind of thing. There are no ethics at work here, it is just some prerationalizing for something you were damned well going to do anyway.

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  10. Not sure why this is news… it was reported a year or two ago. The 3rd parent is only providing mitochondrial DNA. Mom and Dad provide the 23 pairs of chromosomes. The scientist are trying to cure a genetic mitochondrial disorder. The panel even wants to limit the offspring to males, so that the mitochondria can’t be passed on to future generations. Note: Mitochondria have nothing to do with midi-chlorians.

    As far as human genetic experimentation goes, it is fairly benign. This is not designer babies. It is a work-around to prevent a tragic genetic disease from being passed on to future generations.

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  11. It is a work-around to prevent a tragic genetic disease from being passed on to future generations.

    Like…liberalism?

    The panel even wants to limit the offspring to males……. Gee I wonder how they’d do that?

    They “limit the offspring to males” in China now, if you think that’s good thing, move there.

    Hmmm…The panel even wants to limit the offspring to….fill in the blank.

    The best way to prevent a tragic genetic disease is to not reproduce. If you want a kid that bad, go adopt one.

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  12. To understand what gene editing is capable of, look no further than the way scientists are already changing familiar animals. The menagerie of genetically modified creatures already includes flies, worms, ferrets, and even beagles engineered in China to be extra muscular. One project worth paying attention to is the effort by a startup called Recombinetics to engineer dairy cows so they don’t have any horns. The first two cows produced in this way posed for their first photo shoot last month.

    . . .

    … no regulation. The GM crops we’re familiar with—such as corn made resistant to weed killers—are subject to expensive safety testing and approval processes because they contain genes from bacteria. But it looks as if gene-edited crops may escape regulation in the U.S. entirely if scientists stick to playing around with plant genes, as they did when they created a gene-edited potato. DuPont, one of the largest sellers of GMOs, thinks the first gene-edited foods will be on dinner tables within five years.

    . . .

    Environmental release: Last month, biologists in California created mosquitoes that not only resist malaria but spread this trait to other mosquitoes. Their technology, called a “gene drive,” is a way to install the gene-editing machinery in a living thing so that it will spread specific DNA every time it reproduces. The researchers involved hope to release such mosquitoes to end malaria, but plenty of people are worried about that idea. Once released, such changes to species could be hard to undo.

    … But the next wave of users could be at-home hobbyists. This year, developers of a do-it-yourself genetic engineering kit began offering it for $700, less than the price of some computers. The trend might lead to an explosion of innovation—or to dangerous, uncontrolled experiments by newbies. Watch out, world.

    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/543941/everything-you-need-to-know-about-crispr-gene-editings-monster-year/

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