Terrier News

Human Germline what?

Human germline genetic engineering is a procedure in which the genes of an embryo are edited and can be passed down to its offspring. The genes in the germ cells, also known as reproductive cells(egg and sperm) go through genetic alterations. The technology mainly used to achieve this is known as CRISPR-Cas9(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and protein 9). An enzyme called Cas9 acts like scissors that can cut out specific parts of the DNA in which it could be removed or replaced with another piece of DNA. 

Good

Right now this technique is being experimented in order to edit out genes that cause certain diseases and disorders in humans. In 2018 a scientist by the name of He Jiankui claimed that he created the first genetically edited babies. He had edited out the genes that caused HIV. In the future, genetic disorders such as tay-sachs, etc could be edited out. 

 

Bad

People are calling out the ethical concern about human germline genetic engineering. One main concern is the personal autonomy of future generations. Autonomy is the right for a person to make their own decisions. Autonomy of patients is an important pillar in the healthcare system. The argument is that you can’t edit the genes of a person before they were born because they didn’t agree to it. Another possible problem that may arise is the technology that is being used is not perfected enough. Scientists also don’t know the effects of editing genes could have on the human body or even the future generations. 

 

Ugly 

Even if the kinks of genetic engineering are ironed, the advancement of human germline genetic engineering could lead to ‘consumer-based eugenics.’ Eugenics is the study/belief of increasing the amount of desirable traits in a population. This belief was widely used by the Nazi’s during  WWll to discrimate against other. Another possibility is that the human germline genetic engineering could be used to exacerbate existing social inequalities. 

 

Germline Genetic Engineering may have more negative effects than positive but there is still somatic(body) cell editing which only edits a person’s existing cells and the changes cannot be passed down to their offspring. 

 

Genetic Engineering, Lack of Regulation in the United States of America and its Potentially Problematic Applications (shu.edu)

https://www.openglobalrights.org/reproductive-gene-editing-imperils-universal-human-rights/ 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/health/gene-edited-babies-he-jiankui-intl/index.html