The threat of genetically edited babies

The Washington Post “Gene editing is here,” said Marc Thiessen, and it poses “an enormous threat” to humanity. A Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, last week claimed that he used the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to alter the DNA of two embryos to make them resistant to HIV, and then implanted these edited human beings in their mother’s womb, leading to their live birth. The scientific community has reacted to He’s work with outrage, essentially saying it’s “premature.” But the real question is “Should we be doing this at all?” Unlike gene therapy, in which doctors use CRISPR to treat individual patients suffering from genetic diseases, gene editing permanently changes the genetic code of a human being, so that the new code is passed on to future generations. This opens “a Pandora’s box,” in which scientists could produce “made-to-order babies” with superior intellect and athletic skills, tall stature, and whatever color hair, skin, and eyes the parents deemed beautiful. In a genetically modified future, the rich could pay to “lock in their privilege” by buying super-offspring pruned of imperfections, while the poor would go “unenhanced.” If science continues down this road, we will cross “a moral line from which there may be no return.”