Human Genome Editing

Human Genome Editing PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452880
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Genome editing is a powerful new tool for making precise alterations to an organism's genetic material. Recent scientific advances have made genome editing more efficient, precise, and flexible than ever before. These advances have spurred an explosion of interest from around the globe in the possible ways in which genome editing can improve human health. The speed at which these technologies are being developed and applied has led many policymakers and stakeholders to express concern about whether appropriate systems are in place to govern these technologies and how and when the public should be engaged in these decisions. Human Genome Editing considers important questions about the human application of genome editing including: balancing potential benefits with unintended risks, governing the use of genome editing, incorporating societal values into clinical applications and policy decisions, and respecting the inevitable differences across nations and cultures that will shape how and whether to use these new technologies. This report proposes criteria for heritable germline editing, provides conclusions on the crucial need for public education and engagement, and presents 7 general principles for the governance of human genome editing.

Human Genome Editing

Human Genome Editing PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452880
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book Here

Book Description
Genome editing is a powerful new tool for making precise alterations to an organism's genetic material. Recent scientific advances have made genome editing more efficient, precise, and flexible than ever before. These advances have spurred an explosion of interest from around the globe in the possible ways in which genome editing can improve human health. The speed at which these technologies are being developed and applied has led many policymakers and stakeholders to express concern about whether appropriate systems are in place to govern these technologies and how and when the public should be engaged in these decisions. Human Genome Editing considers important questions about the human application of genome editing including: balancing potential benefits with unintended risks, governing the use of genome editing, incorporating societal values into clinical applications and policy decisions, and respecting the inevitable differences across nations and cultures that will shape how and whether to use these new technologies. This report proposes criteria for heritable germline editing, provides conclusions on the crucial need for public education and engagement, and presents 7 general principles for the governance of human genome editing.

Heritable Human Genome Editing

Heritable Human Genome Editing PDF Author: The Royal Society
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309671132
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.

The Ethics of Genetic Engineering

The Ethics of Genetic Engineering PDF Author: Roberta M. Berry
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135195846
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Human genetic engineering may soon be possible. The gathering debate about this prospect already threatens to become mired in irresolvable disagreement. After surveying the scientific and technological developments that have brought us to this pass, The Ethics of Genetic Engineering focuses on the ethical and policy debate, noting the deep divide that separates proponents and opponents. The book locates the source of this divide in differing framing assumptions: reductionist pluralist on one side, holist communitarian on the other. The book argues that we must bridge this divide, drawing on the resources from both encampments, if we are to understand and cope with the distinctive problems posed by genetic engineering. These problems, termed "fractious problems," are novel, complex, ethically fraught, unavoidably of public concern, and unavoidably divisive. Berry examines three prominent ethical and political theories – utilitarianism, Kantianism, and virtue ethics – to consider their competency in bridging the divide and addressing these fractious problems. The book concludes that virtue ethics can best guide parental decision making and that a new policymaking approach sketched here, a "navigational approach," can best guide policymaking. These approaches enable us to gain a rich understanding of the problems posed and to craft resolutions adequate to their challenges.

CRISPR People

CRISPR People PDF Author: Henry T. Greely
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262543885
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
What does the birth of babies whose embryos had gone through genome editing mean--for science and for all of us? In November 2018, the world was shocked to learn that two babies had been born in China with DNA edited while they were embryos—as dramatic a development in genetics as the 1996 cloning of Dolly the sheep. In this book, Hank Greely, a leading authority on law and genetics, tells the fascinating story of this human experiment and its consequences. Greely explains what Chinese scientist He Jiankui did, how he did it, and how the public and other scientists learned about and reacted to this unprecedented genetic intervention. The two babies, nonidentical twin girls, were the first “CRISPR'd” people ever born (CRISPR, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a powerful gene-editing method). Greely not only describes He's experiment and its public rollout (aided by a public relations adviser) but also considers, in a balanced and thoughtful way, the lessons to be drawn both from these CRISPR'd babies and, more broadly, from this kind of human DNA editing—“germline editing” that can be passed on from one generation to the next. Greely doesn't mince words, describing He's experiment as grossly reckless, irresponsible, immoral, and illegal. Although he sees no inherent or unmanageable barriers to human germline editing, he also sees very few good uses for it—other, less risky, technologies can achieve the same benefits. We should consider the implications carefully before we proceed.

Exploding the Gene Myth

Exploding the Gene Myth PDF Author: Ruth Hubbard
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807004180
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
"Is human behavior genetic? Do we inherit our intelligence, our sexuality, our predispositions to illness or depression, or our particular talents through our genes? Newspaper headlines today tout genetic explanations of everything from cancer to alcoholism and criminality. But as Exploding the Gene Myth demonstrates, such explanations are nearly always exaggerated or unfounded, ignoring the complex interactions of genes with environment at every level. Like the eugenic theories of seventy-five years ago, the new genetic determinism serves a conservative social agenda, reflecting our society's eagerness to blame ill health and misfortune on individuals rather than on social and environmental conditions." "Exploding the Gene Myth explains in clear, accessible language how genes really work. Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald then evaluate the tremendous impact of genetic information on how we are treated by doctors and health insurance companies, by schools, by the criminal justice system, and by potential employers." "The authors are especially critical of the multi-billion-dollar Human Genome Initiative, the huge research project to map every gene on the DNA of a prototypical human being. Hubbard and Wald deflate the grandiose promises of therapeutic benefits that are supposed to emerge from the project. They point instead to the real threats to privacy and civil liberties already resulting from the unregulated increase in genetic predictions." "At a time when the biosciences are undergoing a revolution, the enthusiasm of scientists and the media about new genetic information and technologies needs to be tempered with realism. Hubbard and Wald argue that all citizens, not just scientists, should be able to participate in making the necessary decisions about how to regulate information, protect privacy, and avoid discrimination. Exploding the Gene Myth is a forceful plea for a society that would invest in safe, healthful living and working conditions for everyone rather than the search for ideal or improved genes."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Human Germline Genome Modification and the Right to Science

Human Germline Genome Modification and the Right to Science PDF Author: Andrea Boggio
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108718448
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The advent of the CRISPR/Cas9 class of genome editing tools is transforming not just science and medicine, but also law. When the genome of germline cells is modified, the modifications could be inherited, with far-reaching effects in time and scale. Legal systems are struggling with keeping up with the CRISPR revolution and both lawyers and scientists are often confused about existing regulations. This book contains an analysis of the national regulatory framework in eighteen selected countries. Written by national legal experts, it includes all major players in bioengineering, plus an analysis of the emerging international standards and a discussion of how international human rights standards should inform national and international regulatory frameworks. The authors propose a set of principles for the regulation of germline engineering, based on international human rights law, that can be the foundation for regulating heritable gene editing both at the level of countries as well as globally.

The Science and Ethics of Engineering the Human Germ Line

The Science and Ethics of Engineering the Human Germ Line PDF Author: Jon W. Gordon
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471478202
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
With implications that go to the core of what it means to be human, the issues raised by genetic manipulation-especially cloning-have sparked a passionate debate among governmental, religious, and scientific quarters, as well as the media and the general public. Keeping to the actual science rather than speculation is of the utmost importance for an enlightened approach to this weighty discussion. In clear, lively prose, The Science and Ethics of Engineering the Human Germ Line: Mendel's Maze provides an authoritative treatment of the principles of science and bioethics that bear upon such technologies as germ-line insertion and cloning. It offers a realistic assessment of possible applications, limitations, and new developments likely to arise in these areas. Written by a top physician-investigator, this book progresses from the basics of building a living organism from inanimate parts through to recombinant DNA technology, assisted reproductive technologies, and gene transfer and germ-line engineering. Ethical considerations are woven into this material throughout, while a special section covers the intellectual role played by various social biases. As genetic and reproductive technologies spread from the laboratory to the clinic-and society takes further notice-students and practitioners of biology and medicine, as well as the interested general reader, will find The Science and Ethics of Engineering the Human Germ Line: Mendel's Maze to be an essential and accessible guide to these important subjects.

Improving Nature?

Improving Nature? PDF Author: Michael J. Reiss
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521008471
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Little more than a decade ago the term "genetic engineering" was hardly known outside research laboratories. Today it regularly makes headlines. Those in favor of genetic engineering--and those against it--tell us that it has the potential to change our lives perhaps more than any other scientific or technological advance. But what are the likely consequences of genetic engineering? Is it ethically acceptable? Should we be trying to improve on nature? In Improving Nature?, the authors, a biologist and a moral philosopher, examine the implications of genetic engineering in every aspect of our lives. The underlying science is clearly explained and the moral and ethical considerations are fully disussed, resulting in a wide-ranging, balanced overview of a controversial subject. Michael Jonathan Reiss, a biologist, is Professor of Science Education and Head of Science & Technology, University of London Institute of Education. He is the author of Understanding Science Lessons (Open University Press, 2000). Roger Straughan is Reader in Education at the University of Reading. He is the author of Beliefs, Behaviour and Education (Cassell Academic, 1989). Previous paperback edition (1996) 0-521-63754-6

The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy

The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy PDF Author: LeRoy Walters
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195059557
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The authors of this absorbing new book describe the science of gene therapy in terms easily accessible to the non-specialist, and focus on the controversial ethical and public policy issues surrounding human interventions in human heredity. After a brief survey of the structure and functions of DNA, genes, and cells, Walters and Palmer discuss three major types of potential genetic intervention: somatic cell gene therapy, germ line gene therapy, and genetic enhancements. They start with the current techniques of gene addition, using non-reproductive (somatic) cells in an effort to cure or treat disease. Next they address the technical problems and moral issues facing attempts to prevent disease through genetically modifying early human embryos or sperm and egg cells. These changes would be passed on to future generations. Chapter 4, in many ways the most original part of this volume, confronts the issue of employing genetic means to improve human abilities and appearance. Depending on the techniques employed, such enhancements could affect not only the individuals receiving the intervention but their offspring as well. Three types of genetic enhancements are considered: physical alterations to improve size, reduce the need for sleep, and decelerate aging; intellectual enhancements of memory and general cognitive ability; and moral enhancements for control of violently aggressive behavior. The authors maintain that genetic modifications should be evaluated individually rather than be condemned in principle or as a group. The final chapter summarizes the public review process that human gene therapy proposals have been undergoing in the United States since 1990. Five appendices, providing technical background information along with a complete list of questions raised in the national public review process, supplement the discussion.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering PDF Author: Michael Boylan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A philosopher and a biologist offer a textbook to be used alone or with other texts in an ethical theory course that focuses on issues raised by genetic engineering. Students are expected to have at least some familiarity with both biology and philosophy.