Introduction
The scientific abilities gene editing can provide are vastly beneficial, yet have sparked debate about its efficacy. With this power there have been many debates whether it should be illegal or not. Some feel that this is immoral, while others argue that the scientific benefit it can provide outweigh the fact it causes ethical issues. No denying editing provides many benefits to society, cures many diseases, and furthers human health science needs. Based on the scientific benefits it provides, human gene editing should be legalized with precautions to prevent its misuse.
Advancements in Gene Editing
With the new technology towards gene editing there has been many advancements in recent times leading to more possibilities. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is the revolutionary tool of the future. CRISPR was shown to the world in 2012, and a week has not gone by where there haven’t been new findings using this new found technology. What CRISPR does is it allows the scientist to find, delete and repair any mutated DNA sequence. The many advancements being made bring people closer day to day to solve the unsolvable. Like Matthew Porteus an associate professor of paediatrics at Stanford, said. just one defective gene in this process can lead to death if not many problems such as diseases like haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy. To fix a damaged gene an RNA molecule that matches the mutated DNA is designed with a RNA and a Cas9 enzyme. The RNA then guides the Cas9 enzyme to the mutated sequence, which the Cas9 enzyme and the RNA attach to the sequence and gets rid of it. Finally a virus is put in the patient that has been made to deliver the correct information into the edited gene. Previous gene editing techniques were no way as beneficial as CRISPR is today. In the past the tools used protein instead of RNA costing much more then it had to, upwards of a thousand. Using CRISPR The cost is only $65 and the mechanisms are reprogrammable for future use. With CRISPR technology, scientist are only scratching the surface.
Background of Gene Editing
The term designer babies refers to a human that have been altered for traits that cause them to have a stronger or more well-rounded genome . Just the idea of such action makes people uneasy, as it should, since designer technology is still being designed for the future. When people were asked is human gene editing appropriate to do these three things: the first being treat a disease, 72/99 people said it’s appropriate. When asked to reduce a disease 60/99 people said it’s appropriate. The final question was to make the baby smarter 19/99 of those people approved. This shows the downward trend as it turned from medicine to making a human in someone’s own interest, people weren’t in favor. Before such actions can even take place scientists need to know so much more, they will need to know how all the 6 billion genes in our body function… —completely— and that won’t be happening anytime soon. Restrictions have been put into place which are well thought out regulations with strict guidelines making it difficult to misuse intentionally or not. The more realistic worry would be how the offsprings of the human genome fare off, only time will tell as in all things. Gene editing has been a promising breakthrough which is why in 2016 the National Institutes of Health agreed to fund gene- transfer trials. The future is bright for those in favor of the research.
Benefits of Gene Editing
The vast benefits gene editing can provide has become a topic of interest and excitement. Not only can the CRISPR technology be used for human gene editing, it can also be used with livestock. With the gene editing of livestock, it will make pharmaceuticals more available at higher rates, resulting in a lower cost. Gene editing can be used to remove allergens from milk and eggs, produce healthier leaner meat, and even remove unwanted pestilent in food making it more nutritional and readily available to more people. Scientist will be able to. The ability to stop people from getting the diseases before they start especially vastly common ones like Lyme disease and malaria would be so beneficial to the health of all humans. With only having scratched the surface with the possibilities of gene editing, scientist were able to remove HIV cells out of living cells showing its possible. Which is why there has been a lot of money put into these medical advancements. Using gene editing scientist will be able to make therapeutics that will offer so much to the world of medicine currently. The scientific benefits are so grand and promising
Restrictions on Gene Editing
With this new scientific possibilities there needs to be a restriction or this will lead to a pandora’s box. In a world of artificial intelligence it is feared that it will be able to take over the world. Caution is rightfully necessary, there needs to be a balance. There is a need for a nationwide catchall forum from all different perspectives of life to keep regulations harmonized. The only way gene editing can continue is when. All of this work must be done under appropriate regulations. Finally the fears should be prevented if done under this consensus.
Conclusion
There’s no denying the benefits gene editing can provide. Gene editing technologies like CRISPR can cure disease. Gene editing also has the potential to help with the pharmaceutical industry as well as making food products safer. Despite limitation with the possibility of a Pandora’s box. Gene editing provides a bright future in the world of science.
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