Human eggWIKIMEDIA, ED UTHMANGene-editing technologies should not be used to edit human eggs, sperm, or embryos, Edward Lanphier, chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine in Washington, DC, and four other researchers argued in a Nature commentary published this week (March 12). Lanphier told MIT Technology Review that the statements he and his coauthors make in their comment reflects the views of his entire organization, which includes some 200 members and represents companies working on gene and cell therapy, including GE Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson.
“In our view, genome editing in human embryos using current technologies could have unpredictable effects on future generations,” Lanphier and his coauthors wrote. “This makes it dangerous and ethically unacceptable.” Moreover, they added, such techniques could potentially be used for nontherapeutic modifications, as implied by the headline of a recent MIT Technology Review article, “Engineering the Perfect Baby,” which noted that experiments involving the editing of human embryos are “pending publication.”
Fearing that such work could elicit “a public outcry” that would impede research involving the genetic editing of somatic cells, such as the work of Lanphier and his coauthors, the researchers called for the scientific to community to halt all work involving the editing of human reproductive cells. “Philosophically or ethically justifiable applications for ...
