Many experts support "designer baby" born by genetic manipulation, in order to avoid serious diseases

ByPedro Serapio

Since its birth four years ago, one of the gene editing techniques "CRISPR"Has made a number of achievements as" a method to easily change the genetic makeup of plants and animals. " With the advent of sophisticated gene editing techniques like CRISPR, artificially creating children with the desired appearance, physical strength, and intellectual ability "Designer BabyAlthough the possibility of realizing it is rising at a stretch, it is currently the case that this is regarded as a problem strongly both technically and ethically.

U. S. Panel Endorses Designer Babies to Avoid Serious Disease
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603633/us-panel-endorses-designer-babies-to-avoid-serious-disease/

To the question of whether to approve or not accept designer babies that manipulate human genes to produce better children,American Academy of SciencesSuggested that "editing human germline under certain conditions in the future should be permitted as it leads to prevention of serious diseases".

The American Academy of Sciences gathered 22 prominent scientists and experts and produced a report on 216 pages of gene editing techniques. In this report, it says, "Although extreme caution is required for editing germ line, there is no point that it must not be banned".

However, it is said that "It will take many years before it can be confirmed that genetic editing on the germ line is sufficiently safe." Experiments should be carried out under rigorous supervision when genetic editing is performed on the germline, and it is not currently necessary to undertake approaches such as "to modify genes to increase intelligence quotient", and genes Pointed out that it is necessary to delineate clearly the areas that authorize editing.

ByBridget Coila

In the United States it is banned from 2015 to edit the germ line. Normally these bills need to be updated on a regular basis, but proposals on "designer babies" editing human embryos continue to be ignored, and legally it is not possible to proceed with research in the United States .

However, the experts who participated in the report by the American Academy of Sciences have said that germline editing should be accepted in some cases, such as "preventing serious diseases and the like". This is because, for example, "anemia caused by abnormality of globin gene constituting hemoglobin"ThalassemiaIn the case of a couple suffering from "suffering from genetic editing, it is thought that editing to the germ line will be useful because genetic editing will not happen if the child is genetically edited.

Tetsuya Ishii, Hokkaido University's bioethics scholar, who is investigating the world law concerning germline editing, said in a report of the American Academy of Sciences "There is limited genetic editing on the germline, Although it is an application, it clearly shows that it can be used clinically in the future, "he said. Mr. Ishii also stated that the report shows the validity of germline genetic editing experiments conducted in China, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and so on.

In addition, the American Academy of Sciences has also published a report that concludes that "genetically modified crops are safe to eat human and animal".

Genetically modified crops are "safe" by the American Academy of Sciences Report: Nihon Keizai Shimbun