Reflection on CRISPR

In class on Monday, we attended a YouTube live that discussed the details of a genetic editing technology known as CRISPR. With CRISPR, scientists can manipulate DNA to alter things like bacteria and organisms for medical purposes as well as altering livestock and plants for agricultural purposes. Used in a medical setting, CRISPR has successfully cured patients of things like sickle cell anemia. There is also hope that CRISPR will be able to aid in finding a cure to other genetic issues like cancer. When it comes to agriculture, people working for CRISPR hope to create foods that hold extra nutrients to try and help malnutrition across the globe.

I found the livestream to be extremely interesting, it is incredible that we have figured out a way to manipulate DNA to produce different genomes. However, I have a lot of questions. My main concern comes with the ethical side of this. Although I don’t see a problem with altering the DNA of plants, does putting humans into the mix take this whole thing too far? How do we know that scientists will use CRISPR in a responsible manner? What differentiates using CRISPR responsibly vs irresponsibly?

Overall, I would really like to learn more about CRISPR and I am curious to see what they do in the future.