Description
Book SynopsisInternational uproar followed the recent announcement of the birth of twin girls whose genomes had been edited with a breakthrough DNA editing-technology. This technology, called clustered regularly interspaced short palindrome repeats or CRISPR-Cas9, can alter any DNA, including DNA in embryos, meaning that changes can be passed to the offspring of the person that embryo becomes. Should we use gene editing technologies to change ourselves, our children, and future generations to come? The potential uses of CRISPR-Cas9 and other gene editing technologies are unprecedented in human history. By using these technologies, we eradicate certain dreadful diseases. Altering human DNA, however, raises enormously difficult questions. Some of these questions are about safety: Can these technologies be deployed without posing an unreasonable risk of physical harm to current and future generations? Can all physical risks be adequately assessed, and responsibly managed? But gene editing technologies
Trade ReviewThe book starts with a bang, an impassioned and beautifully written essay by Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, the disability studies pioneer, who tells her tale of flourishing despite — indeed in part because of — the genetic condition with which she was born and has lived. It is a compelling firstperson narrative. As a collection, the essays aim to move beyond technical genetic fixes to the human genome, and examine whether interventions at the genetic, individual, or social levels are most appropriate for enabling human flourishing. They address "how should we think about it," rather than prescribe policy solutions. * Robert Cook-Deegan, Arizona State University, Issues in Science and Technology *
I should stress [...] that each chapter is self-standing, and may be read independently of the others. But my guess is that you will become rapidly aware of the global coherence of the work, and that you will end up with no part of it left unread ... * François Nau, Université de Poitiers, ESSAT News and Reviews *
