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strand breaks cause upregulation of p53 as
a tumour suppressor gene,” he says. “CRISPR-
mediated DNA cuts were expected to do
the same.
“However, what it does show is that
CRISPR manipulated cells should be tested
extensively before using them in the lab or
injecting them back into patients.”
In a rapidly expanding field, such
cautionary practice is prudent within adaptive
regulatory frameworks. However, reaction
to research on human embryos in the US,
China, Sweden and the UK has been met with
predictable resistance.
For Dr Simon Longstaff, executive
director of the Ethics Centre, an independent
not-for-profit organisation in Sydney, the
pace of technological development can
remove the chance for society to self-regulate,
as has happened with previous movements
towards eugenics.
“CRISPR puts into the hands of those who
would like to do this the tools which enable
it to be achieved with a greater degree of
precision and ease,” he says.
“When that kind of power becomes
available, it falls into a category where a
general maxim ought to be observed. And
that is that if you divorce technical mastery
from ethical restraint it becomes the root of
all tyranny.
“The friction by which society can adjust
is removed by tools of this kind, unless those
tools are carefully developed, handled and
released.
“The point is not to say that it should
never be used, or that it’s always going to
be used in detrimental ways, it’s really to
say there are certainly issues that need to be
acknowledged — and some within the science
community do that.”
Professor Crossley recognises the need to
advance cautiously, particularly with gene
drive technology, such as the eradication of
disease-carrying species of mosquito.
Indeed, the review of the Gene Technology
Regulations proposes increased regulatory
oversight of laboratory research with gene
drive GMOs, and would require case-by-case
assessment and a licence from the regulator
before research proceeds.
“You wouldn’t want to destroy the species
of mosquito that pollinated something like
cucumbers,” says Professor Crossley.
“What happens if that jumping gene
gets mutated? At what speed does it spread
through the population?
“But designer babies aren’t the immediate
issue and could be a distraction. The
technology is still extraordinarily complicated
and, if someone wanted to design a baby and
approached a scientist to do it, what would
they ask?
“We don’t know the right gene to put in for
intelligence, the right gene for beauty, or the
right gene for happiness.”
“Dolly the sheep was
cloned 20 years ago
but there have been no
examples of human cloning,
and why would there be?
It’s too complicated, takes
too long, and the gains
are too uncertain.”
Professor Merlin Crossley
If you want a blonde-haired child, he says,
it’s much easier to dye their hair blonde.
“It has been possible to modify embryos
for many years but it’s highly regulated,”
he says.
“Dolly the sheep was cloned 20 years ago
but there have been no examples of human
cloning, and why would there be? It’s too
complicated, takes too long, and the gains are
too uncertain.”
References:
1. Scientifi c Reports 2018; online 17 May.
2. Nature Medicine 2018; 24:927-30.
3. Nature Medicine 2018; 24:939-46.
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