Understandable as it is that scientists worry that lay people like Transhumanists will use new gene-editing tools as home science kits, it’s going to happen, and the games will sometimes be messy and dangerous. I guess the bigger question is when will nations utilize them in a large-scale way, perhaps Russia “inventing” the perfect athlete or China trying to birth the greatest scientists ever? When will some babies come with designer labels?

From Alex Pearlman at Vice Motherboard:

Geneticists developing powerful genome editing tools are worried that transhumanists will try to use them on themselves before they’re deemed safe and effective for use in humans, which could undermine the future of technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9, that allow for specific, targeted DNA editing.

Many of the biggest names in the field are at the International Summit on Human Gene Editing, where they are trying to reach a consensus on when, how, and for what purposes humans should edit their own DNA (or the DNA of an embryo).

CRISPR holds promise in the potential eradication of diseases like HIV, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s, and could be used to prevent children from being born mentally impaired. The scientific community seems to generally agree that using CRISPR to potentially prevent disease is ethically OK as long as the technology overall is deemed safe for use in humans. Things get sticky, however, when you consider that gene editing could theoretically be used down the line to create designer babies, to prevent premature aging, or to stimulate muscle growth, among myriad other applications.•