Editing the Human Germline

Abstract

In 2015 Sarah Gray called on scientists and researchers to advance experimental germline therapy as the means to eradicate disease. Yet as compelling as Gray’s argument was, any effort to permanently edit the human germline would bring about fundamental and irreconcilable injustices. It may be highly beneficial to change genes and their regulatory activities in plants and animals, but the weight of scientific curiosity now favors applying this technology to humans. Some specialists argue that our accumulated knowledge should be exploited aggressively so that other precious children will be spared the brief, tortured life of Baby Boy Gray.