Genome Editing

Introduction

Genetic engineering (GE) is “the direct manipulation of DNA to alter an organism’s characteristics in a particular way.”[A] An early and widely accepted example of GE is Humulin, a genetically modified form of insulin. GE has also been used in our crops to protect against pesticides and not need pesticides. A new technology, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a new technology that has the potential to make GE much faster and cheaper than it has ever been before.[B] In China, a scientist announced that a pair of twin girls had been born that were genetically modified with the use of CRISPR.[C] In this article, we will discuss the ethical implications of CRISPR and genome editing and look at some questions that arise in the area of genome editing.

Discussion

The potential benefits of GE on humans are broad. GE could allow for the eradication of diseases such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease and possibly more complex diseases like cancer and HIV.[D] While eradicating these diseases would be beneficial to humanity CRISPR could make GE for enhancement purposes a reality. Additionally, GE could allow for genome editing for enhancement purposes, such as eye color, athleticism, and intelligence. Bioethicists believe that once genetic editing is proven to be safe, it will lead to a slippery slope of what modifications people make to their children.[D]

In class, we showed a scene from Gattaca a futuristic movie where people are discriminated against for not being genetically modified at birth.[E] The video helped to wake the students up and provided another common source from which discussions could be based on.

The topic of GE is mainly an area of biology, but computer science does play a role in GE. Computer scientists have used machine learning to find locations in the DNA to make edits as well as to reduce the off-target effects in gene editing. It is also important to note that a large portion of applications of computer science is in other fields. Genome editing is one of the many disciplines where the use of CS can aid biologists in accomplishing their goals. When discussing the ethics of genome editing from a computer science viewpoint, we still need to consider geneticists’ code of ethics, which focuses on the advancement of science, integrity, privacy, and transparency.[F]

Ethical Analysis

The majority of the class was spent in small discussion groups. We provided some ethical questions and the groups discussed before coming together as a class to share what was discussed.

What would be some ethical considerations in modifying the gene pool?

During our discussions, Tim Park mentioned that this would limit the diversity of our species and Casey Friend talked about how we should reflect on societal values if we felt the need to modify the gene pool. To consider the ethics of this topic, we should reflect on the ACM code of ethics. Three points that stand out for me in the ACM code of ethics are “1.4 Be fair and take action not to discriminate,” “2.5 Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks,” and “3.1 Ensure that the public good is the central concern during all professional computing work.”[G] It will be paramount that the ability to modify genes does not allow for discrimination, something that is highlighted in Gattaca. Any genetic modification to humans or any creatures needs to consider possible risks because they may be irreversible and the harm caused could be severe. Looking at Utilitarian ethics, modifying humans would be easy to justify because of the potential to prevent diseases such as sickle cell and HIV. Prevention of genetic diseases through genetic modification would be beneficial to the public good because it would improve the quality of life to those affected and it would free up resources that are currently devoted to research and treatment of the diseases.

How would accessibility and personal choice affect decisions in participating in genome editing?

Talks about accessibility and parenting highlighted our discussion of this question. Although CRISPR has brought the cost of genetic editing down, and computing power has made sequencing genomes a feasible task, the price of gene editing is still high. The ability to edit a child’s genetic code would still be prohibitively expensive, like any medical operation when it is first introduced. Because editing is done on fetuses, the fetus has no choice in what happens. Some argued that parents make decisions for their children throughout their childhood. Others argued that genetic editing, if done for enhancement purposes, would decide the child’s fate, instead of the child determining its own destiny. This topic brings up the issue that many fear that GE is a form of ‘playing god’ and that it is something we should avoid. Parents believe they know what’s best for their children, but these decisions are ones that will have lasting effects and be passed on to future generations.

Conclusion

GE and CRISPR have had limited direct effects on humans so far. Extreme care needs to be taken as it becomes integrated into society. As the ACM code of ethics states “3.7 Recognize and take special care of systems that become integrated into the infrastructure of society”[G] We need to ensure that GE is appropriately used and safe for the benefit of humanity. For this reason, the progress on genetically engineered humans is slow, and legislation will keep it at a safe pace.

Two other questions that were posed by students to think about were: “What is the aim of human species? Should there be an aim for the human species as a whole?” which was posted by Iris Fu, and “Is it ethical to make manipulations on human genes for good intentions? Should the bad “human nature” of things like cancer win over positive genetic modifications?” which was posted by Judy Peng.

Bibliography

[A]“What is genetic engineering?” Wellcome Genome Editing, Feb. 2017, https://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-genetic-engineering.

[B] “Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything Forever — CRISPR.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Aug. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY%5C.

[C] Gina, Kolata. Wee, Sui-Lee. Belluck, Pam. “Chinese Scientist Claims to Use Crispr to Make First Genetically Edited Babies” New York Times, Nov. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/health/gene-editing-babies-china.html

[D]“What Are Genome Editing and CRISPR-Cas9? — Genetics Home Reference — NIH.” U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 2019, ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/genomicresearch/genomeediting.

[E]Gattaca. Dir. Andrew Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke, and Uma Thurman. Columbia Pictures, 1997.

[F] Boughman, Joann A. “ASHG Code of Ethics.” American Journal of Human Genetics, vol.79 no. 6, 2006, pp. 1136–1137., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1698715/

[G]ACM Code 2018 Task Force: Executive Committee. “The Code Affirms an Obligation of Computing Professionals to Use Their Skills for the Benefit of Society.” Code of Ethics, 2018, www.acm.org/code-of-ethics.