The Council of Europeโs Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, better known as theย Ovideo Convention, explicitly bans heritable human genome editing in the 29 countries that have signed and ratified it. It has done so for close to a quarter century, which is an inconvenient reality for advocates of the technology, who like toย ignoreย orย downplayย theย existenceย of the ban. Failing that, theyย implyย that the Conventionโs prohibition of heritable genetic modification is out of date. It is not. Thatโs the conclusion of a long and detailedย re-examination of the relevant text.
Acceptable interventionsย include somatic gene therapy (to control or cure a patientโs disease) and related research, which may include โinterventions seeking to modify the human genome for the acquisition of knowledge relevant to these permitted purposesโ but emphatically not โto introduce a modification in the genome of any descendants.โ In case anyone should try to misunderstand, this โhas the implication that gametes, embryos or their precursors that have been subjected to such intervention may not be used for the purposes of procreation.โ
All clear now?
Share this article
A new explanatoryย videoย is also online, featuring Anne Forus, Chair, and Pete Mills, member, of the CDBIO Drafting group on genome editing.
