A Historic Perspective
Mankind has reached a tipping point in science where designer babies could soon be the new normal. Dating back to the 1950s, American and British molecular scientists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the 3D structure of DNA being a double helix shape, with the help of British scientist Rosalind Franklin’s research. This astonishing discovery sparked a wave of research and innovation among scientists worldwide. With such intricate knowledge of the very existence of every human, various innovative technologies emerged – raising questions within the medical and ethics community worldwide.
Genetic engineering has been a common topic of research and debate for the past 50 years. After the revelation of the double helix shape, discoveries about the various base pairs and on how restriction enzymes work were made. With knowledge on how restriction enzymes “cut” DNA and how the host DNA protects itself, a basis for genome engineering technology began to develop. From there on out, for the next decade, scientists continued to explore the functions of restriction enzymes and also introduced Recombinant DNA (rDNA) to the medical community. This was achieved by Stanley N. Cohen and Herbert W. Boyer in 1972. The rDNA allows for DNA to be synthetically replaced but it works so perfectly that it almost seems natural.
With this wave of innovation and discoveries ultimately altering the very basis of all living creations, it was put to a halt by The National Academy of Sciences in 1974 as there were many ethical considerations the bioethicists needed to conclude about the new era of genetics. The ban was lifted in February of 1975 when over 100 scientists in the field came together and finalized a set of ethical ideas and laws that they all agreed upon. These ideas are still adhered today in modern genetic engineering and are constantly being modified.
Applications of Genome Engineering
Genome engineering was first used on a rabbit; a gene of a mouse was inserted into a rabbit. This began the concept of a transgenic animal – when a foreign gene is intentionally inserted into an animal’s genome. Nowadays, producing transgenic animals is widely used for scientific experiments involving genome editing technology.
Then came the first genetically engineering drug – synthetic insulin. Humans and animals naturally produce insulin and animal insulin was used for humans. However, in 1978 the demand for insulin skyrocketed and animals were no longer an option to take insulin from. In order to meet the high demand, over 56 million animals’ pancreas glands would have been needed – clearly an alternate was necessary. Scientist worked with biotech company Genentech to create the synthetic drug. This was a prominent defining moment for the modern concept of genetic engineering to be used in humans.
CRISPR
Now when looking from a lens of genome editing for human beings, we come across CRISPR – Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic sequences. This gene editing technology has been pervasive in today’s society, as scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received Nobel prizes for their efforts in the development of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in the year 2020. Though they have been internationally recognized as creators of the tool, the first scientist to realize that bacteria’s DNA repeated was Francisco Mojica in 1993 (the main principles behind CRISPR). Mojica dedicated the following decade to look deeper; he discovered that the DNA of the virus matched the bacteria it was attacking. This led to the foundation of the CRISPR gene editing technology. As Mojica’s discovery was of the fundamentals of CRISPR, Doudna and Charpentier created the biochemical mechanism of CRISPR technology.
With CRISPR/Cas9 being a technology that can change human genetics, an embryo’s or a grown adult’s, various ethical concerns rose and will continue to be looked over and modified by the bioethics community.
In November of 2018, Chinese scientist He Jainkui used CRISPR on unborn twin embryos to eradicate their chance of getting HIV as their father was HIV positive. When he publicly announced the births of the first genetically modified babies, there was a loud opposition from the medical and bioethics community as there was no previous indication of him doing such an experimental study on human beings, more specifically on the germline. As there was a moratorium for the first gene editing research in 1974, scientists are calling for another one on such experiments; but since this could slow or prevent genetic engineering research, scientists are siding in favor of Jainkui.
Furthermore, Russian biologist Denis Rebrikov has begun to do research on how deaf couples can give birth to children who can hear using CRISPR technology. This is also a very controversial topic as it can be taken as an attempt at eradicating the deaf community. Unlike Jainkui, Rebrikov is waiting for approval from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and refuses to continue research without it. “I will definitely not transfer an edited embryo without the permission of the regulator.” He also has plans for genetically modifying the gene for HIV (the CCR5 gene) that Jaikui had edited but the controversy here and with Jainkui was that there already are much safer and less experimental ways of preventing HIV from passing onto the offspring.
Eugenics
With Rebrikov’s research on the deaf gene (GJB2) the debate of eugenics emerges. The famous Darwin’s theory created by Charles Darwin sparked an interest in human evolution and enhancement in Darwin’s first cousin Sir Francis Galton. After Galton read Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, he concluded that the human species could advance on selective breeding, this inspired the birth of eugenics in 1883. Galton focused on advocating for “positive eugenics” which encouraged people with relatively “fit” mental and physical traits to partner with those alike. Thus resulting in an expunge of those deemed less fit. Once his philosophy was publicized many philosophers were influenced, one being Frederick Nietzsche. He strongly believed that everything boils down to biology. In order for there to be the “best” race, it had to be a purified race, that is races through selective breeding have become rational. His goal isn’t the people as a whole, but the overman – a strong unique individual as opposed to a mediocre man of the masses. The difference between Nietzsche and Hitler was Nietzsche believed in any purified race to be a superior race.
The concept of eugenics is another main factor for bioethicists when determining the extent to which humans can take gene editing technologies. Technologies like CRISPR have been developed for the greater good of the population but nothing can be so controlled. Scientists are constantly finding new ways to use technologies and the ethical boards need to keep up the pace to regulate and oversee such modern advances.
