tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post2930742964418239314..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: CRISPR and the Editing of Human GenesJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-83525611029613307512015-11-17T21:56:01.209-05:002015-11-17T21:56:01.209-05:00"I think this is fabulous. Of course, once th...<i>"I think this is fabulous. Of course, once this technology is refined and made commercially available, it could be used to edit any gene. But I don't find that as scary as some other people do; as I have written here before, all important human characteristics -- height, intelligence, skin color, etc. -- are the result of dozens or hundreds of genes working together. So we are nowhere near a world in which parents edit their fertilized ova to create a blonde, athletic genius."</i><br /><br />With a single custom order edit apparently running at $30 dollars, what's to stop people from simply placing dozens or hundreds of orders if they have the money? You could make 500 changes to your child's genetics for $15,000 and added fees. Instead of a luxury car, people would buy luxury genes.<br /><br />Seemingly the only thing stopping us at this point is incomplete knowledge of the functions and interplay of all our genes. But will that still be an obstacle in 100 or even just 50 years?<br /><br />Eugenics has long been something of a moot discussion because it's just so darn hard to pull off without resorting to acts everyone agrees are abominable. But if it gets to the point where you can buy a "suite" of genetic modifications for the price of a new economy car, it's suddenly going to become a very heated debate.<br /><br />There's also the concern of this sort of technology being used maliciously. How tempted might the government be to issue genetic markers to convicted criminals for future identification? Not just discreet ID tags that require gene samples to read, but active phenotypical changes, such as causing visible pigmentation changes on the face or hands to facilitate visual identification? Or what about forced sterility for undesireables, undertaken at a nearly invisible genetic level?<br /><br />There is definitely cause for concern and caution. The problem is that the technology itself is probably far less dangerous than the people who would want to use it are.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com