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CRISPR (Public Perception of CRISPR Use (There is fear regarding the…
CRISPR
Public Perception of CRISPR Use
There is fear regarding the future of CRISPR, many think if it can be used for evil it will
Common thought is that the rich will be able to edit their genomes and create designer babies, the poor will not, creating two species of humans essentially
The gene drive in particular scares people, as one person could affect the fate of the entire species
Sometimes people talk about CRISPR as though it will solve all of their personal problems, cure world cancer, world hunger, etc.
Because of all of these doubts, people think CRISPR should be heavily regulated, more so than now
Potential Future Experiments with CRISPR
Create a woolly mammoth from an elephant using frozen mammoth DNA
Use gene drive to force a gene to exists in every person over many generations
Create mosquitoes immune to malaria to wipe out disease (or make ticks immune to lyme disease)
Create designer babies where parents can choose desired traits (or more likely make their children less likely to get diseases such as Alzheimer's)
Scientific Perception of CRISPR Use
Many scientists get overly excited about the existence of CRISPR - it definitely streamlines the process of gene editing, but doesn't allow you to do anything
Scientists tend to dream big but think small; many desire to use CRISPR for anything they can, just for the sake of proving it can be used, without thinking of the moral or social implications
The off target effects make it unlikely that CRISPR can or should be used for higher level applications in the near future - the system is not ready
Experiments Performed Using CRISPR
Current Experiments
Release colonies of 100,000 gene edited (sterile) mosquitoes in Burkina Faso as a trial run
Created a population of mosquitoes that were sterilized and successfuly wiped out population on small scale in lab
Human clinical trials for cancer applications (although transfer method into patient cells has been thought to cause patient death)
History of Use
HIV resistant gene edited baby born in China
CRISPR been used to test gene function in various animals
Used as drug to fight bacterial infection
Used to cure point mutation diseases such as muscular dystrophy in mice
Rules and Regulations for CRISPR
Actual laws in place regarding use
Declaration of Helsinki outlines global ethical norms for human genetic engineering, but has no enforcing power
Law in California passed that prevents a company from selling CRISPR kits to edit your own genome to whatever you like
Laws are only responding in a case by case scenario
Method of government regulation and control of CRISPR use
Government uses the FDA to control use of CRISPR
Funding will not be allocated to research groups unless they are approved by the FDA, drugs won't be marketed without approval
Therefore, regulation tends to vary with public sentiment about use (the government in a democracy typically tries to appease the majority)
FDA currently prevents use of CRISPR to target germline cells (those that will become children)
This means that general use is regulated in a sense, but nothing prevents anyone from taking action contrary to the rules (especially if they have their own funding)