CRISPR: Is Editing Humans A Good Or Bad Idea? It’s an important step towards an effective cure of many cancers. Huge potential for oncology research.
Although the true significance of these news is not related to cancer.
The background of the story:
2014, February:
State-owned China Development Bank invested $1,5 billion in a research program with the goal of identifying genetic factors related to intelligence.
The lead researcher of the project stated that contrary to Western countries, China is not afraid of the idea of improving humans by the means of genetic engineering. He also stated that such methods could be implemented into governmental health programs.
2015, April:
There are at least four groups in China which are pursuing gene editing in human embryos, and there are already first results of using CRISPR/Cas9 to achieve it.
2015, October:
Chinese scientists have developed a CRISPR-based gene-editing system which provides “an efficient, rapid, and less costly manner to generate genetically modified pigs or other large animals”
2015, December, 1th:
China is building a facility for cloning mammals on industrial scale. It’s build by an organization which has one of the biggest gene banks in the world. The organization is also working with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on cloning of primates.
2015, December, 16th:
The United States Department of Defense: “[China is] pursuing enhanced human operations and it scares the crap out of us, really. We’re going to have to have a big, big decision on whether we’re comfortable going that way”.
“Enhanced human operations” means improving the body and/or the brain of humans by technological means.
