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December 1 - “On the Cusp of a New Era”: New “Editing” Tech Could Permanently Alter the Human Gene Pool ForeverArticle: Cloning And Genetic Engineering
“We could be on the cusp of a new era in human history,” said Dr. David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology as an opener to his talk at a recent conference in Washington on the field of genetic alteration.
Why? Because the process of gene “editing” and “tweaking” is not only getting easier and easier these days, but the technology is getting cheaper. All of it is moving at a faster pace than laws, rules, regulations, and ethics considerations can keep up with. We have already passed the moment where the lines between science fiction and science fact have blurred to the point that the definition of the word “reality” in the dictionary is going to need a complete overhaul. This technology has the potential to forever alter the human gene pool or germline, thus permanently altering the DNA a parent passes to a child. Forever. While some people will argue that’s great for eradicating disease or even making humans who can run faster or jump higher, the truth is these scientists cannot say with 100% certainty that this won’t have any disastrous side effects in the form of unintended consequences (those consequences being the start of many a science fiction horror movie where everything quickly descends to Hell in a handbasket).
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