CRISPR ethics

J Mol Biol. 2018 Jun 6. pii: S0022-2836(18)30586-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.05.044. [Epub ahead of print]

CRISPR ethics: Moral considerations for applications of a powerful tool.

Brokowski C1, Adli M2.

Author information

1

Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, 464 Congress Avenue, New Haven, CT 06519-1362.

2

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, 1340 Jefferson Park Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22908. Electronic address: adli@virginia.edu.

Abstract

With the emergence of CRISPR technology, targeted editing of a wide variety of genomes is no longer an abstract hypothetical, but occurs regularly. As application areas of CRISPR are exceeding beyond research and biomedical therapies, new and existing ethical concerns abound throughout the global community about the appropriate scope of the systems' use. Here we review fundamental ethical issues including the following: 1) the extent to which CRISPR use should be permitted; 2) access to CRISPR applications; 3) whether a regulatory framework(s) for clinical research involving human subjects might accommodate all types of human genome editing, including editing of the germline; and 4) whether international regulations governing inappropriate CRISPR use should be crafted and publicized. We conclude that moral decision making should evolve as CRISPR science advances and hold that it would be reasonable for national and supranational legislatures to consider evidence-based regulation of certain CRISPR applications for the betterment of human health and progress.