Enjoying Borrego Springs
Oh, boy! – Something dark and gooey is about to hit the fan.
I ran on this article in Google News for Wednesday,
1/13: Scientist argues her case for UK
license to “edit” human embryos.
The scientist is Kathy Niakan. Dr. Niakan is employed by the Francis Crick
Institute, in London – named after the more consistently brilliant of the co-discoverers of the DNA
double helix. I am sure that were Crick alive would applaud Dr. Niakan’s efforts.
Dr. Niakan is asking permission to use CRISPR Cas9
technology to experiment with human embryos.
Presumably these embryos would be “left over” from in-vitro
fertilization procedures. They will not
be implanted in human females, the article states. The controversy stems from the fact that
these bits of cellular material are potential human beings, even though
they are not on track to become so.
Thus, by one popular and arguably reasonable test – they are people
already, and what is proposed is tantamount to murder.
The decision yes or no will be made by the UK Human
Fertilization and Embryology Authority.
Whichever way it rules it should expect to be buried in rotten fruit and
other disgusting substances. In parts of
the U. S., armed guards might be needed.
This is important stuff.
I will follow up.
Well, much to my pleasure and surprise the authorities approved this research. There are good reasons to proceed with caution when experimenting with the human genome, but none to forbid it entirely if conducted under proper safeguards.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britain-approves-controversial-gene-editing-technique/2016/02/01/268a3840-c8d1-11e5-b9ab-26591104bb19_story.html
This link will lead you to another discussion of CRISPR technology, one that I found interesting.