Human Gene-Editing Debate Takes Centre Stage At International Summit

The international summit on genome editing kicked off on Tuesday at the headquarters of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Several scientists and researchers gathered for the three-day conference that will discuss the scientific, ethical and governance issues associated with human gene-editing technologies.

The summit particularly focuses on whether gene editing of human embryos for therapeutic reasons should be considered or ruled out altogether, The Guardian noted.

“The overriding question is when, if ever, we will want to use gene editing to change human inheritance," summit chair David Baltimore of Caltech said in his introductory remarks. “We are close to altering human heredity and we need to decide how we as a society are going to use this capability.”

According to The Australian, the process fixing defecting genes is very complicated, so much so that it has slowed down the development of genetic therapies. With gene editing technology, scientists use molecular tools to repair or replace a defective gene or delete it.

A new tool called CRISPR-Cas9 has been adopted by laboratories worldwide as it is faster, economical, and simple enough to use with minimal level of training. Scientists hope to use the tool for diseases like sickle cell, fixing the defective gene in someone's own blood-producing cells instead of implanting donated ones.

Jennifer Doudna of the University of California at Berkeley is one of the pioneers of the CRISPR technology. Doudna told reporters that it will still take several years before the tool can be used for treatment of human diseases, The Washington Post reported.

"We don't understand enough yet about the human genome, and how genes interact, and which genes give rise to certain traits to edit for human enhancement today," she said.

Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society advocacy group, however, opposes heritable gene editing and calls it potentially a "society-altering technology."