Germline Engineering: Is the Human Race Ready For It?
When it comes to germline engineering, there are many issues, controversies, and opinions to whether or not it should be allowed, banned or put on extreme regulations. All the arguments that surround germline engineering have good valid points whether they are for or against it. Some of the most prominent arguments and issues that come up are, where is “too far”, the benefits. and how should gene editing be regulated if it is allowed.
One of the biggest controversies that is brought up in the debate for gene editing is, where do we draw the line. Many scientist claim that gene editing has a sole purpose, to rid people of diseases that are capable of being cured and removed from that person. According to the article, Editing Human Germline Cells Sparks Ethics Debate, Marcy Darnovsky, states, “How do you draw a clear, meaningful line between therapy and enhancement?.” This question is very important because there have already been rumors of a Chinese company that has experimented on human zygotes. Although the zygotes were deemed unusable and unsustainable for life, many people still argue that this was too far. And this experiment prompted scientist to “agree” not to experiment on human DNA and then a call for a halt was put on for germline engineering. According to the president of Sangamo BioSciences, Edward Lanphier, “Are there ever any therapeutic uses that would demand… modification of the human germ line?” Although some may disagree with Lanphier, there are other treatments that could cure other diseases that would not need such advanced technology. Lanphier goes on to say that other countries have already banned such treatments on humans and playing with our DNA crosses a line that was never meant to be crossed. In other pool of though however, there are people like George Church who believe germline editing is the key to some of our problems. Church is quoted saying, “If you ban experiments aimed at improving safety and efficacy, we’ll never get there.” This is where things get complicated because on one hand, there are people with valid arguments that say that germline editing should be banned because it is unethical, and on the other hand there are people like Church who bring in another argument that this may be the answer for people with inherited and life crippling diseases.
In other areas of germline engineering, people tend to bring up wether or not it should be banned, or how governments or scientists should regulate something like this. So should it be banned? There are two sides to it, the pros and the cons. The cons, those who are against a ban, believe that this is the best thing for our future generations and for curing diseases, while the pros, those who favor a ban, believe that it can lead to a dangerous future. In my opinion, the most over used argument that is used by people who are for a ban is, “We are playing God.” People use this not only to try and tug at our emotional side, but it could also spark huge movements in the religious communities. A better more logical argument is that we don’t know how far the use of gene editing will go. According to an article written by N. Schichor and his peers, Development Biology, Should We Allow Genetic Engineering? A Public Policy Analysis of Germline Enhancement,”… genetic manipulation [can] be used to increase height or muscle mass or make people thin. If genes involving intelligence were found, those who could afford this procedure might acquire them, while others would not.” If people had the ability to boost their intelligence why wouldn’t they? The cost of this enhancement would most likely not be cheap considering the technology used for the procedure and the risk that it may hold, so this would leave people who don’t have money lying around to afford it to be at a disadvantage when it would come to academics. One of the most argued point that people make about the future generations and gene editing, is “Do we have the right to make decisions about our children’s genotypes?” (Schichor). The possibility of parents having control of how their kids are “made” is one that people don’t like to think about because it means that their kids was made for a purpose that they saw fit rather than letting their kid chose for themselves. On the other hand however, there are the people the want germline engineering to be used to enhance and make everyones lives better. Although the thought of curing people of illnesses sounds good, they want to take it a step further and go as far as choosing their kids traits if the time ever comes. They want enhancements, a life free of disease, and kids who are extremely smart because they chose to modify them. While this may sound great. Its also a scary thing because that leaves the people who couldn’t afford to have this operation done at a disadvantage.
While germline engineering is something that is new and exciting, now that this more of a reality than just a dream, rules and regulations need to be put in place immediately before things get out of hand. The thought of being able to cure diseases with this is good, but we need to have lines that we do not cross because we still don’t know all the potential dangers of this new technology.
