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New US Experiments Aim To Create Gene-Edited Human Embryos (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A scientist in New York is conducting experiments designed to modify DNA in human embryos as a step toward someday preventing inherited diseases, NPR has learned. For now, the work is confined to a laboratory. But the research, if successful, would mark another step toward turning CRISPR, a powerful form of gene editing, into a tool for medical treatment. Dieter Egli, a developmental biologist at Columbia University, says he is conducting his experiments "for research purposes." He wants to determine whether CRISPR can safely repair mutations in human embryos to prevent genetic diseases from being passed down for generations. So far, Egli has stopped any modified embryos from developing beyond one day so he can study them. "Right now we are not trying to make babies. None of these cells will go into the womb of a person," he says. But if the approach is successful, Egli would likely allow edited embryos to develop further to continue his research. Egli's research is reviewed in advance and overseen by a panel of other scientists and bioethicists at Columbia. Specifically, Egli is trying to fix one of the genetic defects that cause retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited form of blindness. "If it works, the hope is that the approach could help blind people carrying the mutation have genetically related children whose vision is normal," reports NPR.
Purity, in the context of genetics, means very badly inbred.
All the societal impacts aside, fiddling with the human genome, when we BARELY understand how this stuff works seems like a really dangerous idea.
Who knows what sort of new problem you're introducing into our genome, that may not be expressed for a few generations?
You think you solved some awful human condition, start doing it widespread, and 150 years down the road, we're all fucked cuz it did something unintended like made everyone sterile, or have some other much worse disability.
The point is that thanks to CRISPR, we might be able to do eugenics without sterilization. Since most people with some bad genes also carry a lot of good genes, this is not only more humane, but also good for genetic diversity.