“Sometimes things are hard, and some things are right. And some things are both. This is one of those things.” –Tim Cook
Now when Tim Cook said this he was in no way referring to genome editing, but his words can be applied to many difficult situations. Imagine a world where doctors are gods creating and designing the next generation of human beings. Before a baby is even born they are able to go in and pick and choose what the baby will look like, what abilities they have. They can remove defects and potential for disease with a simple cut. All this is done by editing the genome of the human being while it is still an embryo. This technology may seem futuristic however this technology is available right now. With that all kinds of ethical questions come up: Should genome editing even be done? If so should it be limited to only somatic cells or germ line cells? Who would regulate the scientists? There are so many unanswered questions with this new technology.
A HISTORY LESSON It is important to have an understanding of the history …show more content…
CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. In bacteria they are responsible for much of the bacteria’s immunity against viruses (Broad Institute, n.d.). The most important aspect of CRISPR is the Cas-9 protein which functions as a nuclease (Doudna, Charpentier, 2015). A nuclease is “an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of a phosphodiester bond of a nucleic acid,” in other words it can cut DNA (OED). Cas-9 can be used to cut DNA at any site with ease and simplicity, including in humans. This is where the problem with CRISPR begins. It can modify somatic and germ line cells efficiently and quickly. Somatic cells are all the cells in the body except sperm and egg cells (National Institute of Health, n.d.). While somatic cell modification is not seen as a serious ethical dilemma, germ line modifications are. Germ line cells are cells whose genes can be passed on to offspring (NIH,
Now when Tim Cook said this he was in no way referring to genome editing, but his words can be applied to many difficult situations. Imagine a world where doctors are gods creating and designing the next generation of human beings. Before a baby is even born they are able to go in and pick and choose what the baby will look like, what abilities they have. They can remove defects and potential for disease with a simple cut. All this is done by editing the genome of the human being while it is still an embryo. This technology may seem futuristic however this technology is available right now. With that all kinds of ethical questions come up: Should genome editing even be done? If so should it be limited to only somatic cells or germ line cells? Who would regulate the scientists? There are so many unanswered questions with this new technology.
A HISTORY LESSON It is important to have an understanding of the history …show more content…
CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. In bacteria they are responsible for much of the bacteria’s immunity against viruses (Broad Institute, n.d.). The most important aspect of CRISPR is the Cas-9 protein which functions as a nuclease (Doudna, Charpentier, 2015). A nuclease is “an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of a phosphodiester bond of a nucleic acid,” in other words it can cut DNA (OED). Cas-9 can be used to cut DNA at any site with ease and simplicity, including in humans. This is where the problem with CRISPR begins. It can modify somatic and germ line cells efficiently and quickly. Somatic cells are all the cells in the body except sperm and egg cells (National Institute of Health, n.d.). While somatic cell modification is not seen as a serious ethical dilemma, germ line modifications are. Germ line cells are cells whose genes can be passed on to offspring (NIH,