He Jiankui´s gene-editing experiment and the non-identity problem.

Julian Savulescu,Marcos Alonso

doi:10.1111/bioe.12878

Abstract

Genetic engineering has been a topic of discussion for over 50 years, but it is only recently that gene editing has become a reality. CRISPR biotechnologies have made gene editing much safer, precise and feasible. We have witnessed the first cases of human germline genetic modification resulting in live births, conducted by He Jiankui. In this paper, we will analyse He Jiankui’s case in relation to one of the most difficult problems in procreative ethics (or the ethics of future generations): the non‐identity problem. We believe that this analysis will help us to understand the ethics involved in gene editing and hopefully allow for a better, more philosophically grounded legislation on CRISPR and other gene‐editing technologies.

Highlights

Genetic engineering cannot be considered a new technology, CRISPR has taken it to a whole new level
Of a gene-editing technology that emulated the bacterial immune system’s ability to cut DNA with high precision. This technology has been successfully applied to all kinds of organisms, including mammals, and has been perfected and amplified to cut, and to add genes
There has not been a sustained philosophical analysis of the philosophical issues involved in such gene editing. We will analyse He Jiankui’s case in relation to one of the most difficult problems in procreative ethics: the non- identity problem. We believe that this analysis will help us to understand the ethics involved in gene editing, and hopefully allow for

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Genetic engineering cannot be considered a new technology, CRISPR has taken it to a whole new level. From an impersonal point of view, the Chinese researcher did not harm anyone, but it could still be argued that he did something wrong by not selecting an embryo that would have developed into a child who would have benefited more from the intervention (for example, selecting an embryo with the genetic disorder Tay–Sachs disease).28 He Jiankui failed to create the best possible world he could have created. Accepting the non-identity argument would seem to set the bar way too low and to possibly open the door to a virtually endless array of gene modifications—modifications that would only need to meet the criteria of creating a life worth living to be acceptable From this perspective, He Jiankui’s experiment would have been permissible, but could even be considered a rather prudent and conservative one. It could be said that the gene editing was a necessary condition of Lulu and Nana’s existence, because if Jiankui was not going to perform the gene edit, he would not have carried out the experiment: he would not have carried out the IVF, and the specific embryos from which Lulu and Nana were created would not have existed (or the chances of them ever existing would have been vanishingly small)

| CONCLUSIONS

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES