Could outreach by scientists to religious communities relieve tensions over human genome editing?

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Is the human genome sacred? Does editing it violate the idea that we’re made in God’s image or, perhaps worse, allow us to “play God”?

At a time of unprecedented access to genetic tests and plummeting costs for genetic sequencing, Wu believes people should know what scientific advances mean for them. The challenge is empowering communities that are skeptical of science because they have been underserved or even mistreated in the past.

As with scientists and secular bioethicists, religious communities have shown varying degrees of comfort with the notion of genome-editing.

Her goal, Wu said, was not to promote genetics…She saw it as an opportunity to understand any tensions that might exist, as well as to answer and ask questions.

“I do believe that humans are in a special way individuals and a species with a special relationship to God,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins [said.] “And that requires a great deal of humility about whether we are possessed of enough love and intelligence and wisdom to start manipulating our own species.”

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: God and the genome: A geneticist seeks allies among the faithful

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