An influential scientific society has recommended scrapping a long-standing taboo on studying human embryos in lab dishes beyond 14 days and greenlighted a long list of other sensitive research.
Researchers hope large numbers of very primitive, embryo-like structures will lead to new insights into early human development and ways to prevent miscarriages and birth defects.
Analysis of DNA from more than 400,000 people in the U.K. suggests a genetic modification that protects against HIV may actually increase the overall risk of premature death.
Ethical concerns aside, the genetic ingredients for human traits are so complex that editing a few embryonic genes is unlikely to have much effect — or achieve the fantasy of enhancing humans.
Despite outrage over gene editing in China that affected the birth of twins, research is underway in the U.S. to assess the safety and effectiveness of CRISPR tools to edit genes in human embryos.
Concerns over a Chinese scientist's claim that he created the first gene-edited babies grow with more questions about whether it worked and the possible harm he may have inflicted on the twin girls.
Researchers disabled a gene that they think helps determine which human embryos will develop normally. The technique they used is controversial because it could be used to change babies' DNA.
Some recent studies in synthetic biology, they say, raise new questions about the ethical limits of creating entities that might feel pain or resemble human embryos — or mimic humans in other ways.
Researchers who study developing human embryos have long limited their experimentation to lab embryos that are no more than 14 days into development. Some scientists are now pushing that boundary.
The National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences say a long-standing taboo on editing human genes could be lifted — even if the changes can be carried through to future generations.
An independent federal panel says the experimental procedure needs to be proven safe, and even then should only be tried with male embryos because of concerns about passing down genetic errors.
The researchers want to study the first few days of an embryo's development. They must now seek approval from an ethics committee in the United Kingdom.
