Letters | 7 April 2016

Gene genies

Sir: ‘The return of eugenics’ (2 April) links a new technology of gene modification to historic dreams of genetic purification. But we are of course more than our DNA; each of us is a unique person, each mortal, and each worth the attention of science and medicine to alleviate our suffering. This means we must not totally ban the technology of crispr-CAS9, which allows specific editing of even a single letter within our 3 billion-letter human genomes, because it opens many doors to medicine. The single distinction that would allow this technology to serve medicine without also bringing down the curse of rational eugenics would be a ban on all manipulation of cells that make sperm or egg cells; that is, the human germ line. That would allow the treatment and cure of a person by DNA modification, without reopening a punitive eugenic path to two kinds of people.
Robert Pollack
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University

Embryo selection

Sir: Fraser Nelson is right to identify the developments in human gene-editing as being of profound importance to the future of humanity.