Some experts find ethical uncertainty in artificial DNA

Artificial DNA, recently successfully implemented in a living cell by California scientists, presents more ethical concerns than opportunities for medicine, the head of the US-based DNA Medicine Institute told RIA Novosti.

“Yes, this is a scientific breakthrough, but medically, not so much, it ultimately leads to too many ethical questions and also fundamentally we have to ask why are we doing this,” said Dr. Eugene Chan, Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of the DNA Medicine Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The first living organism with synthetic DNA was created by a team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. It altered the cell’s genetic composition despite the earlier belief that naturally created DNA could not be changed.

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Read the full, original story: OPINION: Synthetic DNA More Dangerous Than Useful