Good Eugenics?

Scientists call it germline modification. We call it designer babies. Either way it entered a new stage recently when Chinese scientists were able to alter a human embryo by removing a potentially fatal blood disorder. What’s to be underlined is that the technique does not only alter the fact for that embryo but for all the human lives that would derive from it. So it is more than just an individual alteration, it tinkers with the process of evolution and alters the species. Some scientists are now asking, is this a technique we want to use?  They make a distinction between gene editing to remove Continue reading “Good Eugenics?”

Good Eugenics?

Scientists call it germline modification. We call it designer babies. Either way it entered a new stage recently when Chinese scientists were able to alter a human embryo by removing a potentially fatal blood disorder. What’s to be underlined is that the technique does not only alter the fact for that embryo but for all the human lives that would derive from it. So it is more than just an individual alteration, it tinkers with the process of evolution and alters the species. Some scientists are now asking, Continue reading “Good Eugenics?”

Too Long Forgotten

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a gene splicing tool that can edit certain diseases out of our genes. It’s basically a form of genetic engineering. As such it is a breakthrough in scientific technology and much discussed in scientific and medical circles. Of course it could also be used wrongly, support the ideas on race of someone like Hitler for example. But that’s for another piece. CRISPR has much commercial potential and a lot of money is a stake. While it has not yet been tried in humans, its potential for therapeutic purposes has already led to controversy. The first is ethical, Continue reading “Too Long Forgotten”