A Crack In Creation: A Nobel Prize Winner's Insight into the Future of Genetic Engineering

by Jennifer A. Doudna

We asked experts from the scientific and bioethics communities to create forums that would allow interested members of the public to access reliable information about new gene-editing technologies, their potential risks and rewards, and their associated ethical, social, and legal implications. We called on researchers to continue testing and developing the CRISPR technology in cultured human cells and in nonhuman animal models so that its safety profile could be better understood in advance of any clinical applications. We called for an international meeting to ensure that all the relevant safety and ethical implications could be openly and transparently discussed—not just among scientists and bioethicists, but also among the many diverse stakeholders who would surely want to weigh in: religious leaders, patient- and disability-rights advocates, social scientists, regulatory and governmental agencies, and other interest groups. Last, and perhaps most significant, we asked scientists to refrain from attempting to make heritable changes to the human genome. Even in countries with lax regulations, we wanted researchers to hold off until governments and societies around the world had a chance to consider the issue.