Cutting Eugenics Out of CRISPR-Cas9

Brokowski, Carolyn; Pollack, Marya; Pollack, Robert

doi:10.1615/ethicsbiologyengmed.2016016260

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Another risk, shared globally, is posed by the greater society. It is possible, for instance, that allowing CRISPR germline editing, even if only for medical purposes, might in some respect(s) lead to the return of eugenics, whose proponents believed that the human population can be improved by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable, heritable characteristics 106 . Unfortunately, historically, this selective weeding of people with “bad” genes and breeding of those with “good” ones resulted in many atrocities, including the forced sterilization of individuals and the propagation of racially discriminatory policies—both of which were backed by state authorities and even educated elites in different societies.…”

Section: Ethical Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

CRISPR Ethics: Moral Considerations for Applications of a Powerful Tool

Brokowski

Adli

2019

Journal of Molecular Biology

Self Cite

147

114

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With the emergence of CRISPR technology, targeted editing of a wide variety of genomes is no longer an abstract hypothetical, but occurs regularly. As application areas of CRISPR are exceeding beyond research and biomedical therapies, new and existing ethical concerns abound throughout the global community about the appropriate scope of the systems' use. Here we review fundamental ethical issues including the following: 1) the extent to which CRISPR use should be permitted; 2) access to CRISPR applications; 3) whether a regulatory framework(s) for clinical research involving human subjects might accommodate all types of human genome editing, including editing of the germline; and 4) whether international regulations governing inappropriate CRISPR utilization should be crafted and publicized. We conclude that moral decision making should evolve as the science of genomic engineering advances and hold that it would be reasonable for national and supranational legislatures to consider evidence-based regulation of certain CRISPR applications for the betterment of human health and progress.

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Section: Ethical Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

CRISPR Ethics: Moral Considerations for Applications of a Powerful Tool

Brokowski

Adli

2019

Journal of Molecular Biology

Self Cite

147

114

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“…Nevertheless, when it comes to prevention, even in the era of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (commonly known as CRISPR)[ 3 ], it is not possible to edit out the hundreds of genes that potentially contribute to schizophrenia in any one individual. Even if in the future all suspicious genes could be eliminated, profound ethical concerns make this form of prevention doubtful[ 4 , 5 ].…”

Section: Potential Prevention Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women who suffer from schizophrenia: Critical issues

Seeman

2018

WJP

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Many brain diseases, including schizophrenia, affect men and women unequally - either more or less frequently, or at different times in the life cycle, or to varied degrees of severity. With updates from recent findings, this paper reviews the work of my research group over the last 40 years and underscores issues that remain critical to the optimal care of women with schizophrenia, issues that overlap with, but are not identical to, the cares and concerns of men with the same diagnosis. Clinicians need to be alert not only to the overarching needs of diagnostic groups, but also to the often unique needs of women and men.

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“…It is therefore still undetermined in what way CRISPR-Cas systems could bring about pleiotropic effects, even though we were able to successfully establish that genes act as prominent causal factors in disease development. Some disease phenotypes, it is worth stressing, can potentially be altered or even obliterated by pleiotropic effects [ 79 ]. Hence, editing a gene in germline and/or somatic cells may bring about unpredictable biological consequences.…”

Section: Beyond Therapeutic Safety and Efficacy Genome Editing Entails Polarizing Ethical And Legal Quandariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

CRISPR-Cas and Its Wide-Ranging Applications: From Human Genome Editing to Environmental Implications, Technical Limitations, Hazards and Bioethical Issues

Piergentili

Rio

Signore

et al. 2021

Cells

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The CRISPR-Cas system is a powerful tool for in vivo editing the genome of most organisms, including man. During the years this technique has been applied in several fields, such as agriculture for crop upgrade and breeding including the creation of allergy-free foods, for eradicating pests, for the improvement of animal breeds, in the industry of bio-fuels and it can even be used as a basis for a cell-based recording apparatus. Possible applications in human health include the making of new medicines through the creation of genetically modified organisms, the treatment of viral infections, the control of pathogens, applications in clinical diagnostics and the cure of human genetic diseases, either caused by somatic (e.g., cancer) or inherited (mendelian disorders) mutations. One of the most divisive, possible uses of this system is the modification of human embryos, for the purpose of preventing or curing a human being before birth. However, the technology in this field is evolving faster than regulations and several concerns are raised by its enormous yet controversial potential. In this scenario, appropriate laws need to be issued and ethical guidelines must be developed, in order to properly assess advantages as well as risks of this approach. In this review, we summarize the potential of these genome editing techniques and their applications in human embryo treatment. We will analyze CRISPR-Cas limitations and the possible genome damage caused in the treated embryo. Finally, we will discuss how all this impacts the law, ethics and common sense.

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Cutting Eugenics Out of CRISPR-Cas9

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

CRISPR Ethics: Moral Considerations for Applications of a Powerful Tool

CRISPR Ethics: Moral Considerations for Applications of a Powerful Tool

Women who suffer from schizophrenia: Critical issues

CRISPR-Cas and Its Wide-Ranging Applications: From Human Genome Editing to Environmental Implications, Technical Limitations, Hazards and Bioethical Issues

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