Thursday, January 21, 2016

My current event is on editing genes.

Chinese Scientists Edit Genes of Human Embryos, Raising Concerns
By Gina Kolata
The New York Times
April 23, 2015
Aurora
Throughout 2015 experiments about editing genes have been going on. Though other scientists around the world had talked about doing gene editing experiments, this article is about the Chinese scientists who attempted to edit genes. These experiments will affect many people when there is a definite way to edit genes. Many people have cancerous genes in their DNA and after scientists find a way to edit genes we will have the potential opportunity to take these cancerous genes (and other diseases) out of people’s DNA before they are born. Editing genes could benefit everyone. The recent experiments took place in China. What they were hoping for was all of the cells to be changed so there would be no diseases but the DNA of the embryo would stay unaltered. Out of the 85 embryos they experimented on, none of them turned out the way that they wanted. In the Chinese experiments defective embryos were used so that a baby would never be born. Other scientists helped along the way, but the research was being done primarily by Chinese scientists. In order to edit genes the scientists use the CRISPR method.
“This is an unsafe procedure and should not be practiced at this time, and perhaps never.” - Dr. George Q. Daley
This quote reflects what most scientists feel about editing genes. Not only are people worried about the dangers of this type of experiment, they are worried about the ethics involved with genetic experimentation.
Editing genes is news that is very important. Maybe not to the people in the world who don’t have a disease that is killing them. Peter Warlick, a very close family friend has lou gehrig's disease. His children are four and six. He has two years to live, and in those two years he will get very sick. Imagine what he would do to not have lou gehrig's disease. I know that editing genes was not being experimented on before he was born, but this shows how important editing genes is. So many people watch their friends and families die from diseases. Now, we are on the edge of finding a way to make editing genes possible. I chose this article and topic because sooner or later scientists will find a way to edit genes. Scientists will be able to save many people’s lives before they are even alive.
I believe that editing genes is amazing. Being able to edit a gene that has a disease is remarkable. Other people think that editing genes is dangerous and unethical. Obviously it is dangerous, but that shouldn’t mean that scientists shouldn’t pursue this area of science. What experiment has had no danger in it? When scientists know how to edit genes without harming an embryo, there will be babies who are born with no diseases because the gene that carried a disease will have been taken out of them.
Chinese scientists did an experiment on editing genes. Even though they did not get what they were hoping for, every time scientists do more experiments on editing genes we learn more. Just like Jonas Salk’s experiments with finding a vaccine for polio, many people are fearing the outcomes of editing genes. I think that editing genes will be an amazing scientific discovery.


URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/health/chinese-scientists-edit-genes-of-human-embryos-raising-concerns.html?_r=2  



12 comments:

  1. Great Job! You really showed how it will effect people. And explained in scientific words what was going on in the experiment, like cancerous genes. I wonder why it didn't turn out the way they wanted it to? What did they do wrong?

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  2. Wow this seems like it could really affect the future of medical science. Its seems like this could (even though this is dangerous) save many lives in the future. Imagine a world without disease! I wonder how long it will take to perfect it? This is a truly mindblowing.

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  3. I really like all of your explaining. I learned a lot about gene editing. Think about all the scientific work that went into this discovery

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  4. I realy like it. But couldent gene editing be used for evil? Yea what did go wrong? I didn't even know that this is a possibility. I realy liked how you explained it. You made it make more sence other wise I would be very confused.good job!

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  5. Very interesting! I love how you explained how this could change the world of gene editing. You said that many people have cancerous genes in their DNA, could gene editing possibly get rid of any major diseases like cancer?

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    1. Yes. You can use gene editing for many things. Like getting rid of cancer or other diseases. You can also use it for changing your babies hair color or eye color. Or if your child had autism you could change that. Personally I would not want to change my baby's eye color or hair color. Or even if my baby had autism. They are who they are. Though I would edit their genes if they had cancer or another disease.

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  6. Wow! I didn't think that they were trying to edit genes. The thing is, if gene-editing became public, couldn't that lead to editing genes of regular people? Couldn't that give them superpowers or something? I think this could be dangerous, but I agree with you on the fact that it could help people with diseases that will almost certainly lead to them dying. Great job Aurora!

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  8. Great Job! Like Will said if you can edit your genes wouldn't you be able to have magic powers and be the "perfect" person. But, from a medicle standpoint this is realy helpful so you can change there genes and get rid of the disease. Interesting.

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  9. Nice job! I really loved how you explained everything you talked about thoroughly. This seems like it could lead to so many important medical discoveries, and I'm glad I learned about it. It could save so many deaths and so much grief. Again, amazing project!

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  10. Great Job! I think to be able to cure diseases by editing genes can be good. But doing that when people aren't sick or dying just to have the 'perfect' baby isn't.

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  11. awsome! I'm amazed that gene editing is one of the coolest discovery ever. and it would be amazing to start cutting down diseases before they can form

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