Altered Inheritance: CRISPR and the Ethics of Human Genome Editing

by Françoise Baylis

Overview

A leading bioethicist offers critical insights into the scientific, ethical, and political implications of human genome editing.

Designer babies, once found only in science fiction, have become a reality. We are entering a new era of human evolution with the advent of a technology called CRISPR, which allows scientists to modify our genes. Although CRISPR shows great promise for therapeutic use, it raises thorny ethical, legal, political, and societal concerns because it can be used to make permanent changes to future generations. What if changes intended for the good turn out to have unforeseen negative effects? What if the divide between the haves and have-nots widens as a result? Who decides whether we genetically modify human beings and, if so, how?

Françoise Baylis insists that we must all have a role in determining our future as a species. The scientists who develop and use genome-editing tools should not be the only ones making decisions about future uses of the technology. Such decisions must be the fruit of a broad societal consensus. Baylis argues that it is in our collective interest to assess and steer the development and implementation of biomedical technologies. Members of the public with different interests and diverse perspectives must be among the decision makers; only in this way can we ensure that societal concerns are taken into account and that responsible decisions are made. We must be engaged and informed, think critically, and raise our voices as we create our future together.

Sharp, rousing, timely, and thought-provoking, Altered Inheritance is essential reading. The future of humanity is in our hands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674241961
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Françoise Baylis is University Research Professor at Dalhousie University. She is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Baylis was a key participant in the 2015 International Summit on Human Gene Editing and is a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing. She was awarded the Killam Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts for her work in science humanities.

Table of Contents

Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Prologue��������������� 1. Targeting a Single Gene: Huntington’s Disease 2. From Editing a Genome to Altering Inheritance 3. Babies by Design 4. From “Well” to “Better than Well" 5. Ethics in the Interim 6. Of Harms and Wrongs 7. Slow Science 8. Scientists, Science Policy, and Politics 9. Ethicists, Science Policy, and Politics 10. “All of Us” for “Us All" Epilogue: A New Dawn��������������������������� Abbreviations�������������������� Glossary��������������� Notes������������ Acknowledgments���������������������� Index������������

Editorial Reviews

Baylis argues that everyone must have a role in determining our future as a species. Scientists who develop and use genome-editing tools shouldn’t be the only ones deciding on future uses of the technology.

Chronicle Herald - Allison Lawlor

Exceptionally clear, insightful and well-argued…Baylis emphasizes that the science of genome editing cannot be separated from the social context in which it occurs…A timely and valuable book that enjoins us to seriously consider how CRISPR or other forms of genetic alteration could affect people who exist now and people who will exist in the years to come.

Walter Glannon

Altered Inheritance is a call to action. Fair, balanced, and enjoyably readable, this book provides us with insights into the greatest technical and social challenges of our day and their ethical impact on future generations.

George Church

A vivid call to action…Timely and important…Commitments to justice, responsibility, accountability, and consensus-building are features of a socially just science and bioethics. Toward this end, Altered Inheritance is a foundational tool in the path ahead.

Science - Adam Hayden

Informative and thoughtful, Altered Inheritance casts the ethically perplexing questions raised by genome editing in a clear new light. Françoise Baylis asks us to slow down and rediscover our collective moral agency instead of feeling overtaken by the momentum of science and technology.

Peter Mills

Insightful and forward-leaning. Françoise Baylis offers a wonderful framework to help us think about and act on bridging the divides between theory, science, politics, and practice. Her book Altered Inheritance will guide us toward more meaningful, sustainable solutions.

Margaret Hamburg

An authoritative, comprehensive guide to the ethical issues around CRISPR, and her central message is clear: heritable human genome editing shouldn’t be treated as inevitable, and the decision to undertake it should be a collective one. She takes to task scientists who believe they need not answer for the societal consequences of their research and argues that we should adopt heritable genome editing only if it results in a more just and equitable world.

New York Review of Books - Natalie de Souza

Incisive and insightful, Altered Inheritance wrenches open the laboratory doors behind which science and technology struggle to set a new course for society, for humanity, and for those who are most vulnerable for extinction.

Donna R. Walton

Françoise Baylis is a fearless philosopher whose courage is matched by her talent. In this wise, lucid book, she asks exactly the right questions. What kind of world do we want to live in and how likely is gene editing to take us there?

Carl Elliott

Altered Inheritance argues that the use of gene-editing technology should require significant input from the broad public. This book is extremely timely, addresses a high interest and important topic, and comes from an influential voice in the gene-editing debate.

Josephine Johnston

Baylis, a Canadian philosopher and bioethicist, provides some helpful description of the science behind gene editing but focuses primarily on the moral and public-policy issues it provokes. She aims to write an accessible book that will educate the public on this new technology and empower them to participate in coming debates about how to regulate it.

Ordained Servant - David VanDrunen

Lays out the critical stakes with regard to editing the human genome with clarity, challenging several conventional approaches to the issue.

Biopolitical Times - Gina Maranto

An effort to demystify the science and ethics of this world-changing technology.

University Affairs - Kat Eschner