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[entremet]

Scientists for the first time have successfully edited genes in human embryos to repair a common and serious disease-causing mutation, producing apparently healthy embryos, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The research marks a major milestone and, while a long way from clinical use, it raises the prospect that gene editing may one day protect babies from a variety of hereditary conditions.

But the achievement is also an example of genetic engineering, once feared and unthinkable, and is sure to renew ethical concerns that some might try to design babies with certain traits, like greater intelligence or athleticism.

The study, published in the journal Nature, comes just months after a national scientific committee recommended new guidelines for modifying embryos, easing blanket proscriptions but urging it be used only for dire medical problems.

”We've always said in the past gene editing shouldn't be done, mostly because it couldn't be done safely," said Richard Hynes, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-led the committee. ”That's still true, but now it looks like it's going to be done safely soon," he said, adding that the research is ”a big breakthrough."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/science/gene-editing-human-embryos.html?_r=0

Ethical concerns will be interesting. But nothing is stopping this train. Sports are gonna be insane.

 

[Omegasquash]

God, imagine being able to eliminate the chance that your child could inherit Huntington's or Sickle Cell Anemia.

 

[ModBot]

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