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.
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