Host Ethan Elkind and guests explore the social, ethical and legal implications of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology.
Gene editing techniques have the potential to cure genetic diseases in humans, transform agriculture, and even help the environment. But, many questions and concerns remain.
Should we be manipulating the genomes of the unborn? How can this technology be equitably distributed and effectively regulated? And, what role does the public play in this debate?
Guests:
Marcy Darnovsky, executive director at the Center for Genetics and Society
Henry T. Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at the Stanford School of Medicine; author of The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction
Samuel H. Sternberg, future assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University; co-author of A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution