CRSPER - Mankind's Future? or Eugenics?

[Saint_]

In case you haven't heard, the scientific world is abuzz with a major breakthrough in genetics that makes editing DNA and even RNA as easy as cutting and pasting a word document. Here's the cover of the latest TIME magazine:





"a broad revolution in genetics sparked by the technique called CRISPR-Cas9. Just four years old, this discovery is transforming research into how to treat disease, what we eat and how we’ll generate electricity, fuel our cars and even save endangered species. Experts believe that CRISPR can be used to reprogram the cells not just in humans but also in plants, insects–practically any piece of DNA on the planet. On June 2, a scientist at MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute announced the development of a related CRISPR technique that can edit RNA, which is responsible for regulation and expression of genes. If DNA is the genetic alphabet, RNA spells actual words. In plain terms, that means the already vast possibilities for CRISPR got even bigger."

Already, CRISPR is producing clear results in practically every corner of biology. Researchers have corrected the genetic defect in Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice and deactivated 62 genes in pigs so that organs grown in the animals, such as heart valves and liver tissue, won’t be rejected when scientists are ready to transplant them into people. In China, researchers report that they have accomplished in dogs, rabbits, goats and monkeys what human bodybuilders yearn for: a way to quickly build muscles to hulklike proportions. Also in China, plant scientists are editing out genes that make wheat susceptible to mildew, potentially leading to hardier crops.

Malaria researchers are exploring a number of ways that CRISPR can be used to manipulate mosquitos to make them less likely to transmit the malady. (Since only females bite and spread the parasite, for example, they’re editing in sterilizing changes so the females can’t reproduce. Eventually, the hope goes, malaria will cease to be transmitted.)

Some even see the technology as an answer to the growing problem of plastic waste. In Japan, scientists found a bacterium that can chew up the main element in landfill staples like plastic shopping bags–but very slowly. They’re investigating ways to use CRISPR to rev up the plastic-degrading gene and turn such microbes into garbage-eating machines.

Even endangered species might be getting the CRISPR treatment. George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, is exploring the possibility of saving the Asian elephant by giving it an entirely new habitat in the relatively human-conflict-free tundra of Siberia. What he hopes will keep the species alive are genes from the extinct woolly mammoth. “It dawned on me that this could be possibly the most exciting part of a new conservation strategy where the goal is not so much to bring back extinct species but to enliven the ecosystem and help endangered species,” says Church."

"But with research and commercialization evolving so quickly, it isn’t hard to imagine some next steps–including some with decidedly eugenic overtones. If IVF clinics gain the ability to edit out severe genetic diseases, will some move on to creating babies tailored to parents’ preferences for height or intelligence or athletic ability?"

[LarsMac]

And we are still nervous about GMO corn and Salmon.

Just wait til we have GMO people running about.

[Bryn Mawr]

The idea of a microbe that will degrade plastics in hours being released into the world should strike fear into most people.

[Bruv]

People can be too clever.

Hope they are clever enough to second guess the possible consequences.