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Gene Editing

Bioethics Forum Essay
Francis Crick Institute London

What Happened to Concerns About Human Enhancement?

Prominent science policy reports that set the stage for the recent Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing all raise questions about human enhancement. Enhancement concerns also consistently loom large...
Read What Happened to Concerns About Human Enhancement?
Bioethics Forum Essay
Chinese scientist He Jiankui

Is Chinese Bioethics Ready to Move Forward from the CRISPR Baby Scandal?

The Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing is being held in London this week. Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui’s illegal experimentation with heritable human genome editing, announced at the Second International Summit in Hong Kong four years ago, will haunt some of the discussions. To what extent has the Chinese bioethics community addressed gaps exposed by the Crispr Baby scandal and prepared to prevent similar future scenarios?
Read Is Chinese Bioethics Ready to Move Forward from the CRISPR Baby Scandal?
Bioethics Forum Essay
American chestnut sapling

Could Alarm Over Genetic Manipulation Get in the Way of Environmental Conservation?

The American chestnut is basically defunct, unless science can rescue it. Genetic manipulation may be the answer.
Read Could Alarm Over Genetic Manipulation Get in the Way of Environmental Conservation?
Bioethics Forum Essay
doctor using injection tube to put a bright light into a beaker

From Gene-Edited Embryos to Covid: China Faces Regulatory and Ethical Challenges

Over the last two years, China has updated some regulations on human genetic engineering and assisted reproduction and established a national committee to guide and supervise bioethics nationwide. But there are legal gaps in some of the regulations and tension between competing values: the desire to encourage new research and to potentially inhibit it by imposing stricter ethics regulations.
Read From Gene-Edited Embryos to Covid: China Faces Regulatory and Ethical Challenges
Bioethics Forum Essay

Transcending Borders in the Ethical Oversight of Human Genome Editing

The bioethics and legal communities must come together to find ways to move with the same ease of the scientific research community--to transcend the geopolitical borders and jurisdictional concerns that make international regulation so difficult.
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Bioethics Forum Essay
Chinese scientist He Jiankui

Chinese Bioethicists: He Jiankui’s Crime is More than Illegal Medical Practice

Professionals and the public in China first learned of the jail sentence of He Jiankui from the report of Xinhua News Agency. No information, including any interpretation, was provided by the Court. But the reported words of the sentence are so ambiguous as to leave room for different interpretations. We believe that the public has the right to know more than Xinhua News Agency reported.
Read Chinese Bioethicists: He Jiankui’s Crime is More than Illegal Medical Practice
Bioethics Forum Essay

Hannah Arendt in St. Peter’s Square

Neither one of us expected to be talking about Hannah Arendt at the Vatican. We had been invited to give talks at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on the scientific and ethical challenges posed by personalized medicine. Walking across the cobblestones of St. Peter’s Square we began to discuss how society regulates biomedical research. Are institutional review boards capable of dealing with innovations like personalized medicine? Are they too bound by regulations? Can they ask larger questions of meaning when simply following the rules won't suffice? And most worrisome, has their bureaucratic function caused them to mistake regulatory compliance for ethical reflection?
Read Hannah Arendt in St. Peter’s Square
Bioethics Forum Essay

When Might Human Germline Editing Be Justified?

Last month, an international commission convened to consider whether and how germline editing – changing the genes passed on to children and future generations -- should proceed. The discussions focused mainly on the safety risks of the technology, which, while important, are not the only issues to consider. Any conversation regarding germline editing must also honestly and thoroughly assess the potential benefits of the technology, which, for several reasons, are more limited than generally acknowledged.
Read When Might Human Germline Editing Be Justified?
Bioethics Forum Essay

Why Human Germline Editing Might Never Be Legal in the U.S.

What would it take for the first case of gene editing of a human embryo, egg, or sperm to proceed in the U.S.? Many legal and ethical hurdles involving clinical trials, for starters.
Read Why Human Germline Editing Might Never Be Legal in the U.S.
Bioethics Forum Essay
human hand removing gene piece from dna strand

Pursue Public Engagement, but Don’t Expect ‘Broad Societal Consensus’

Read Pursue Public Engagement, but Don’t Expect ‘Broad Societal Consensus’
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