No additional words needed to tell that I am a fan of gene editing technologies. As discussed by many experts and specialists in the field, gene editing has great power in agriculture and biomedicine. In simple words, it is like a very sharp knife. A sharp knife should only be in the hands of trained people who have technical expertise and ethical training to the generally accepted standards.
Innovative technology often comes with new opportunities, occasionally that is unprecedent. If we look into it with meaningful purposes to improve human health and if the existing regulatory system is not yet available to guide it, the opportunities should be proceeded with great caution and transparency.
Below is my personal view on the event of the “gene-edited twin babies” reportedly happened in China. As a person who volunteered a lot on grant review in Viet Nam, I have one big question, “who funded that research?” or “was funder aware of the money spent on such research?”
As I pointed out in the article published on “Urban Citizens”, there might be people who cannot withstand the pressure as a scientist and therefore may be tempted to cross the ethical line to do somethings “striking” in their terms and this may cause the whole society to go against the technology. To ensure innovative technology is welcomed by general public, this is what must be avoided.