Remember back in 2018, when Chinese scientist He Jiankui infamously claimed to have created the world's first genetically edited babies?
After three years in prison and $430k in fines, He is back. In a recent interview with South China Morning Post, he admits he experimented with CRISPR too quickly.
He also says, “I have a long-term vision, which is that each of us should be free from inherited diseases."
Despite all of the backlash and criticism he received from the greater scientific community, his vision of a future free of inherited disease sounds benign when you first hear it, right? On the surface, who wouldn't want to live in a world where people are not burdened by inherited diseases?
There are many reasons why he acted too quickly: the safety and long-term health implications of gene editing in human embryos are still unknown. The technology is still in its early stages, and there is a real risk that the edited genes could have unintended consequences, both for the individual being edited and for future generations.
One of the issues that perplexes me is the scenario where medical treatments blur the line and evolve into enhancements. This concept has a science-fiction like quality to it, doesn’t it?
The significance of gene-editing technology cannot be understated. The potential of gene editing to eliminate inherited diseases like Huntington's, tackle epidemics such as malaria and HIV, and enhance quality of life by treating colour blindness, baldness, and even skin texture is almost beyond comprehension.
If history has taught us anything, it's that money holds significant sway. It's not unreasonable to foresee a situation where cosmetic enhancements aimed at improving quality of life for high-income nations are pursued ahead of disease-eradicating treatments for lower-income countries.
Yet, does this mean we shouldn’t try at all? How do we begin responsibly?
The infamous He Jiankui himself claimed that he acted too quickly. Can we envision a scenario in which we act too late? A recent documentary asks the question, did He Jiankui make people better?
How far should we go in pursuit of the ‘perfect human’?
What do you think?
I think it may be time to watch GATTACA again - don’t you?
Thank you very much for the outpouring of love for last week's newsletter on The Last of Us! I always appreciate you humouring my tendency to connect anything and everything to bioethics. :)
If you do end up watching GATTACA (one of my all-time favourite films) do let me know what you think! I wish you all a lovely weekend - see you next Friday!
-Nipa
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