April 16, 2024

UK scientists call for debate on designer babies

Michael Cook

Novel techniques of editing the genome have inspired some British scientists to call for a public debate on designer babies.

Novel techniques of editing the genome have inspired some British scientists to call for a public debate on designer babies. Dr Tony Perry, of the University of Bath, recently announced that his team had successfully edited mouse DNA at the moment of conception. Using “Crispr” technology, it will be possible to delete and insert DNA in human embryos. “There’s much speculation here, but it’s not completely fanciful, this is not HG Wells, you can imagine people doing this soon [in animals],” he told the BBC. “At that time the HFEA [the UK’s fertility regulator] will need to be prepared because they’re going to have to deal with this issue.”

Changing the DNA could remove genetic diseases from a bloodline, but it would also be genetic engineering.  “Obviously in the UK, this is not allowed and there would have to be a change in regulations, which I suspect would have enormous problems,” Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, of the UK Medical Research Council, said. “But it is something that needs to start to be debated. There has been a blanket ban on germ-line therapy, so there needs to be a debate about that and some rational thought rather than knee-jerk reactions that, ‘No you can’t possibly do that.'”

A spokesman for the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority commented: “We keep a watchful eye on scientific developments of this kind and welcome discussions about future possible developments.”

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