I thought it would be interesting to add in some opinion pieces.
I found an old opinion piece on whether we should CRISPR (genetically edit) our germ cells
2 years ago, here’s what I wrote :
“CRISPR/Cas9 may inevitably be the cure to many disease including malaria, HIV and cystic fibrosis. Although its ability to target eukaryotic, viral and genetic disease has made gene editing an intensively-studied cure for many diseases, it has also raised many ethical concerns in human application
Given the limitation in knowledge regarding the consequences in human application that can be provided for informed consent, CRISPR/Cas9 treatment should be used only on non-germline cells (somatic cells) as the last resort in extending an individual’s lifespan at this time. The consenter must also understand the risks and uncertainty involved in using CRISPR/Cas9, such as inducing other diseases from off-target activity. While participation by children in clinical trials should be consented by parents, modification to embryos should only be used in cases where the embryos wouldn’t survive the pregnancy otherwise. As affected individuals must consent to irreversible genetic changes, it violates the rights of unborn individuals if irreversible gene editing was performed unnecessarily. Moreover, this costly technology can only be available to a selected few as of now, and the fine print of use has yet to be defined to avoid “eugenic” gene modifications procedures for having “designer babies.”
This is what I think today.
I still think germ cell genetically editing should not be allowed for the same reasons. However, I think there are other potential ways to cure or provide relief for a genetic defect other than genetic modification. If it is caused by a dominant mutation, would it be possible to devise a method to inactive the defect allele epigenetically? For instance, we could use a similar guiding technique as CRISPR/ Cas9. We could use a guide RNA to the target sequence to lead a methyltransferace to the active dominant autosomal defective allele.