Gene editing embryos: Medically-risky ‘designer babies’ or life-rescuing innovation?

Bring up germline editing, and most scientists cringe. The idea behind the notorious CRISPR-baby scandal, editing reproductive cells or embryos tinkers with DNA far beyond just the patient—any changes, either beneficial or harmful, pass down through generations.

Germline editing is banned in most countries. A Chinese court sentenced He Jiankui, the disgraced scientist first to experiment with editing human embryos, to jail for three years. Now free again, He said in an interview with NPR … that the CRISPRed twins, Lulu and Nana, are healthy and growing normally as toddlers, although he declined to answer more detailed questions about their wellbeing.

[His] delinquent experiment sparked universal condemnation but also triggered heavy debate among scientists about the future of germline editing. In theory, if based on solid scientific and clinical foundations, such edits could reduce the chances of inherited diseases down an entire family line. But it’s a slippery slope. When does reducing the risk of inherited breast cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s disease edge into “designer baby” territory?

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