What Is the World to Do About Gene-Editing?

If CRISPR has an agreed-upon red line, it is human germline editing (which, in effect, entails editing human embryos to create babies that will carry the edits in all of their cells, and will pass the changes on to any offspring they have). That line was crossed in November at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, when a relatively unknown Chinese scientist named He Jiankui announced that he had introduced genetic changes in at least two human embryos that were carried to term, meaning that the first two gene-edited humans in history—twins, as it happens—exist somewhere in China. This, coupled with the recent revelation that several American researchers, including 2006 Nobel Laureate Craig Mello, were in contact with He and aware of his work without raising concerns in public, has led to the feeling that an influential faction of scientists either supports human germline editing or is simply resigned to the unrelenting forward motion of the technology.

Source: www.nybooks.com