Gene Editing
By: Lilly Weirich
1/15/16
I bet you are wondering what in the world Gene Editing is… Well, gene editing is when scientists can change a baby's features like eye and hair color. Also, they can cure the baby of cancer before it is born, or at a young age. Another use of gene editing is the ability to change whether a baby will have a mental disorder or not. An example of this is autism. This is important to mothers and fathers around the world. In my opinion, if my baby were to have a mental disorder and I was given a chance to change that, I would. I would make this decision because I have heard and seen how it is to live a life with a mental disorder. This discovery took place in Washington D.C. on December 3. Scientists in Washington D.C. said that research on human gene editing is needed and that they should be able the to continue on with their research.
Although this is a major breakthrough in science and that this discovery could heal many babies, there are also many people that believe tinkering with human cells could lead to disasters and unhealthy babies. Another problem that many people are complaining about is the fact that Moms and Dads may choose to make what people are calling “The perfect baby”. What they mean by “Perfect”, is that people may make their babies smarter or better-looking than other individuals. If I were given the chance to make my baby smarter or better-looking I would definitely never change the way he or she looked or acted. Then again, that is my opinion and many people may not have the same.
A little girl with the name Layla who had leukemia, was treated with edited immune cells. In her case, the editing “scissors” used to slice genes are known as TALENs. They are enzymes that researchers engineer to clamp on to DNA at certain sites and then they are cut. This shows that gene editing can be used in many good ways. A wonderful example of this, is a little girl's like Layla whose life was saved by gene editing. If she was not cured at a young age, she could have died later on. One recent experiment that scientists created, was beagles with extra muscle. In that case, the researchers used “scissors”, known as CRISPR/Cas9 to create certain gene edited beagles with extra muscle.
This discovery is very interesting and helpful but many people still think that their should be some changes in the gene editing process. Hope fully gene editing will be used for important medical purposes only, like freeing and healing Layla who had leukemia.
You did a great job on explaining what gene editing is. I would never want to change how my baby looked or even if it had a disorder. I agree with you when you say that gene editing should be used for medical purposes only. Like if a baby has cancer. I wonder what will happen in the future with gene editing? I wonder if many people will want to change their baby's features?
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ReplyDeleteWow I never knew that could happen. I would never change the way my child looks. What would happen in the future with gene editing? Will more people decide to do that? I agree that if a child has a disease then they could fix it.
ReplyDeleteWow I never knew that could happen. I would never change the way my child looks. What would happen in the future with gene editing? Will more people decide to do that? I agree that if a child has a disease then they could fix it.
ReplyDeleteWow! This was so interesting to me! Is it true that people actually have medical procedures to change the way their child looks? If so I totally agree with you and would never do that to my child. I also am wondering if you think gene editing could in the future be a common way to help diseases like leukemia or people with mental disorders? Overall this helped me see what gene editing is.
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