An international group of experts will meet in Washington DC next week for a three day summit, to discuss the safeguarding parameters of gene-editing. Although it is illegal in many countries to genetically modify a human embryo that will become a human, the new technology has a wide variety of uses and benefits, for example preventing devastating genetic disorders and creating disease resistant crops and malaria-free mosquitoes. However, there are serious concerns that gene-editing could be used for creating ‘designer babies’ or that women would be implanted with Tay-Sachs embryos as part of research projects.
An international group of experts will meet in Washington DC next week for a three day summit, to discuss the safeguarding parameters of gene-editing. Although it is illegal in many countries to genetically modify a human embryo that will become a human, the new technology has a wide variety of uses and benefits, for example preventing devastating genetic disorders and creating disease resistant crops and malaria-free mosquitoes. However, there are serious concerns that gene-editing could be used for creating ‘designer babies’ or that women would be implanted with GM embryos as part of research projects.