Science

Crispr People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans

Crispr People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans

  • Downloads：6403
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-03-28 11:11:34
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Henry T. Greely
  • ISBN：0262044439
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

What does the birth of babies whose embryos had gone through genome editing mean--for science and for all of us？

In November 2018， the world was shocked to learn that two babies had been born in China with DNA edited while they were embryos--as dramatic a development in genetics as the cloning of Dolly the sheep was in 1996。 In this book， Hank Greely， a leading authority on law and genetics， tells the fascinating story of this human experiment and its consequences。 Greely explains what Chinese scientist He Jiankui did， how he did it， and how the public and other scientists learned about and reacted to this unprecedented genetic intervention。

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Reviews

Marks54 ，

Someone wiser than me once suggested that rather than read books individually， it would be better to form one’s queue with related books， to the extent possible - books that share a common subject matter to some degree or overlap in topical focus， or treat similar subjects with different perspectives。 That is sometimes difficult to arrange in real time although in recent years， especially during the pandemic， there have been more opportunities。 There have been lots of plague and pandemic books t Someone wiser than me once suggested that rather than read books individually， it would be better to form one’s queue with related books， to the extent possible - books that share a common subject matter to some degree or overlap in topical focus， or treat similar subjects with different perspectives。 That is sometimes difficult to arrange in real time although in recent years， especially during the pandemic， there have been more opportunities。 There have been lots of plague and pandemic books to read。 There have also been a large number of books about weird and disruptive populist politics on both sides of the Atlantic。 There have been others as well on more specific topics。A really good pair of books popped up recently that should be read together if possible。 I wish I had discovered them， but I owe a debt to the Economist a couple of issues back for reviewing them together。 The book reviewed here - CRISPR People by Henry Greely — is a report/study of the November 2018 event and controversy that erupted when a Chinese research， He Jiankui， showed up at a high level conference in Hong Kong and announced to all that he had edited the genes of two human fetuses and that one of them had resulted in a live birth of twins。 The conference and the broader scientific community around the world that follows the science associated with CRISPR and related topics were thrown into substantial disarray。 The scientist involved ended up going to jail in China， while the broader turmoil about gene editing has yet to subside。An entire book about this？ Sure！ The thing to note here is that the science involved here is very new and very complex。 It is also highly controversial bringing up ideas of dystopian futures， and government over involvement in individual lives at the same time that other long for the eradication of genetic disease and the improvement of humanity - or something like that。 As might be expected as well， this fast moving and consequential science is wrapped up in the formation of new biotech firms， long lasting patent wars， and calls for government regulation。 One of the principals in the events reported on in this book， Jennifer Doudna， won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020。This is a book that reports on the events associated with He Jiankui’s experiments。 The author is a well known law professor and ethicist who examines these events in terms of laws， regulations， professional standards， and ethics。 He is not a scientist but is knowledgeable about the details of this affair and a marvelous story teller at explaining them to people who know neither law nor big time science。 He also knows many of the people involved in the story。 It is a very good book for a set of events that is hard for most to get their arms around。So what is the related book to this？ Walter Issacson’s recent biography of Jennifer Doudna - The Code Breaker - focuses on this same scientific area， but from the perspective of the scientists involved， especially Professor Doudna and her colleagues。 The book covers the events of November 2018 and share some detail with Greely’s work。 Greely’s book focuses in on the legal and ethical issues raised by He Jiankui， along with the consequences of the disclosure of his work。 To do this， of course， he needs to provide background on the science and the key developments around CRISPR and even earlier research。 The book really shines by raising the institutional and legal dimensions that all sorts of non-scientists will also have to familiarize themselves with。 The book also details the follow-up regarding which US scientists were involved with He’s project and how much did they know and/or support about the project once they heard of it。 Without going into details， I will just say that when scientists go off on their own and in the process violate established rules and norms of behavior - as well as some laws - it does not end well。 It appears to be an effective way to end a career。 Depending on the norms that are violated — and gene editing babies for birth violates some big norms — then it is not good to be associated with such an efforts。 While the results of investigations have not made front page news， it seems very clear that people in this area of the academy will be on their best behavior going forward。 In case you want more， the book also provides a detailed critique of the research design of the He Jiankui work that goes into the weeds about what was wrong with the effort。Greely’s book is not just for academics and science observers who can only look in on what the elites of this research can do。 The issues raised by CRISPR and how it is used will continue to structure whole areas of life that are removed from the research bench。 Big medicine is only going to get bigger and the science is going to restructure how this huge part of society develops。 The hype that this science is a really big deal has something to it。 Books that help non-scientists and non-lawyers under this do a great service to readers。 Both of this books are superb and complement each other。 。。。more

BookCrazy ，

A very thorough investigation into the history of genetic engineering。 After the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020， I started reading about the development of this technique。 In this book， I found a lot more interesting details and context information。 It also raises some questions regarding our ethics and morals。

Sue ，

I found this book to be very interesting。 I enjoy science and technology so I was very interested in reading it。

Katie ，

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy。In CRISPR People， Henry T。 Greely lays out the background of the science， people， and field that lead to the first genetically edited babies; the response to the announcement of their birth; and a discussion of the implications， positives， negatives， regulations， and recommendations surrounding human gene editing。 I'm a biochemistry graduate student。 Before Dr。 He's announcement， we'd read and discussed a lot about the potential use of C Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy。In CRISPR People， Henry T。 Greely lays out the background of the science， people， and field that lead to the first genetically edited babies; the response to the announcement of their birth; and a discussion of the implications， positives， negatives， regulations， and recommendations surrounding human gene editing。 I'm a biochemistry graduate student。 Before Dr。 He's announcement， we'd read and discussed a lot about the potential use of CRISPR for human germline editing。 When Dr。 He made his announcement， everyone I knew seemed shocked and appalled at Dr。 He's gall。 Even then， when discussing what should be done， it was clear that we were in murky waters。As for the science， I can't say if it would be clear to a lay person。 I didn't find any errors， though， and it doesn't seem that a deep understanding of the science is necessary to understand the impact of He's experiment or of the potential of genome editing。 Greenly's review of the background leading up to the announcement and response was good for perspective。 It seemed unbiased and comprehensive。 I particularly liked the later section of the book in which Greenly discusses the realistic potential of human germline editing and how it can or should be controlled。 He makes several good points that should relieve a lot of unrealistic fears about the technology， while also reviewing the good and bad of past attempts at regulation。By the end， I don't know that I feel scientists are in any less murky waters。 But Greenly's analysis does provide a strong argument that scientists （myself included） are responsible for the impacts of our fields on society。 Basically， if we don't speak up， who will？ I'd recommend CRISPR People to all scientists， laypersons highly interested in biotechnology， and those who have an impact on policy。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Crispr People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans

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The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Crispr People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0