Guest Post by John Stossel
Soon, some of you will try to make “better babies.”
Already, people pay labs to examine embryos so they can pick ones with DNA they like. Some screen for gender or eye color. Some screen out certain diseases.
So far, they’ve been limited to selecting genes that exist in the parents. They haven’t designed genes. But that is about to change.
Chinese scientists recently altered DNA in human embryos.
The designed babies — twin sisters — were born with immunity to common strains of HIV, claims the scientist responsible. (The added gene might also shorten lifespans. Most scientists say it’s too soon to gene-edit humans safely.)
“He was put under house arrest … and the Chinese are right to punish that scientist,” says Sheldon Krimsky of Tufts’ medical school in my new video.
Most Americans agree.
