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Modern Genetics Paper

Crispr Ethics

Claire Eller

Kihei Charter High School

9th Grade Biology

Amanda Wilson

12/18/2020
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CRISPR is a mind-blowing technology that has many positive implications. Some people

argue that it would create a world with designer babies and perfect humans, which may be

unethical. Many people believe that CRISPR could change life on Earth with its new outlook on

medicine, and genetic research. It is a revolutionary technology, but great improvement could

come with great consequences. This paper will discuss the future of CRISPR, how it is used, and

the ethical concerns it raises.

CRISPR Cas9 or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats is a

somewhat new technology bacteria naturally uses as a way to edit the genome. Bacteria use the

CRISPR system as a defense against viruses, and scientists have figured out how to hack that

system ​(​WNYC​ 2015)​. Using the Cas9 protein and a guide RNA scientists are able to cut genes

out of DNA, allowing scientists to use CRISPR to target and attack specific genes. They can also

replace those genes with new ones by placing a new gene on the inside of two homologous

genes, fooling the cell (​Jorgensen​, 2016). “CRISPR is a two-part system with the Cas9 protein

and the guide RNA” (​Jorgensen​, 2016). This new technology carries so many possibilities, and

some are even being put into place now.

CRISPR has many applications in the real world. It is used in medicine, in the industry,

and in the lab. In medicine, it is thought by many that CRISPR could be very valuable. It has

been used in tests as a treatment for genetic diseases (Says​ et al.​ , 2014). Researchers​ at Tel Aviv

University recently published an article proving that ​using the guide RNA, and the Cas9 protein,

CRISPR can be used to target cancer cells, and treat cancer. The team at the university chose two

of some of the most deadly cancers out there. ​Glioblastoma and Metastatic Ovarian Cancer were

used to test how effective the CRISPR system was in this trial. The team showed that with only
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one treatment of CRISPR, the average life expectancy with that cancer doubled (​Good News

Network,​ 2020).

In the lab CRISPR ​is used to modify and change the genes of organisms like fruit flies,

plants, and human cells, benefitting gene editing research. This kind of research also allows

scientists to practice and become more familiar with CRISPR, so in the future when it counts,

they will know what they are doing. In industry, CRISPR immunity is used to develop ways that

the bacterium in certain food has a defense against certain viruses or diseases that could affect

the quality of the food(Says et al., 2014).

CRISPR raises many ethical concerns, but the advancements in medicine and in the lab

could be worth it, because of how many things will become possible. Many things for food and

health could benefit from CRISPR, such as making food free of allergies, producing more

nutritious fish and decaffeinated coffee beans. Humankind also could bring things back from

extinction, or eradicate a species. Scientists are currently researching how it would be possible to

resurrect woolly mammoths using the Asain Elephant’s genes. This would prevent the Asian

Elephant extinction (Ryan,2019). CRISPR could also be used as a treatment against harmful

diseases which makes a very positive impact on the world as well. This technology is also a lot

cheaper than regular gene-editing resources. However, there are also other things to consider.

It is known that the powerful tool that is CRISPR could do many things in the future, but

it is debatable whether those things are realistic or not. CRISPR could do things like wipe out a

species, or treat diseases, but it might not live up to everything the community had hoped. It is so

easy to create a mistake, such as one typo, when editing the genome, and that one could have

detrimental consequences. So with all the risks it creates, it might not be realistic for CRISPR to

become common. Many studies also have proven that scientists still have so much to learn, and a
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big number of people who attempted to use CRISPR have come in contact with setbacks and

have made mistakes.

Continuing the progression of CRISPR throughout the world could have consequences,

because not all trials go according to plan, or are considered moral. One example is the failed

editing of human embryos performed last year. The edit was designed to make the babies

resistant to HIV. This was done by a Chinese biophysicist, who was already under scrutiny for

another successful attempt to edit a human embryo. One thing that went wrong is that they failed

to make an exact copy of the gene, but instead made many mutations( Carfagno, 2019). This

kind of study needs to be more careful in the future. The fact that CRISPR is dealing with things

like human embryos is very important because if it cannot be precise, and safe enough to ensure

success, lives are on the line.

The things that CRISPR could do also raise some very prominent ethical

concerns. One very important ethical concern is that CRISPR might not be safe. Many scientists

can agree that the possibility of making a wrong edit or failing to copy a gene exactly is too

much of a risk(Genome.gov,2017). Another important aspect is that CRISPR is still being

developed, and it is far too risky to apply to medicine today. The Science Magazine discusses

how a few studies testing CRISPR for medical uses have recently been published, stating that the

scientists did not expect to make such big mistakes(Jon CohenFeb. 28 et al., 2019). Resurrecting

a creature, or wiping out a creature also is a huge responsibility. It has the possibility of setting

off a chain reaction that could be detrimental to the ecosystem. Not to mention how difficult it

would be to gain permission from the whole world(Admin, 2016).

There is also the issue of consent. Editing a human embryo raises the question of whether

consent would be needed, as editing the embryo could affect generations and generations in the
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future, and the person might not have wanted it. It is hard for people to turn down the offer to

give their babies a tall gene, or a defence against arthritis. In which case, designer babies could

become more and more common(​WNYC​ 2015). A poll taken by the ​National Human Genome

Research Institute suggests that most patients would like informed consent, that would fully lay

out the side effects and risks of CRISPR (Ganguly 2020). However, informed consent might not

be always available due to the fact that the person in question might not be born yet, or might be

born generations in the future. Raising the bigger issue, that if consent is not able to be given,

some suggest that the editing must not take place because of moral, and ethical concerns.

In conclusion, CRISPR is an incredible technology that has many applications, uses, and

benefits. With all the ways that CRISPR could change the world, there could also be a downside.

This paper covered the future of Crispr, how it is used, and the ethical concerns it raises. This

revolutionary technology that is CRISPR has many flaws and ethical concerns, so the question

we have to ask ourselves is, does the new ways that CRISPR can be used, like in stopping

diseases, and editing the genome, outweigh the consequences of what CRISPR could do to the

world as we know it?

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Annotated Bibliography

Antibodies Part 1: CRISPR: Radiolab. (2015, June 06). Retrieved November 25, 2020, from

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/antibodies-part-1-crispr

This source talks about CRISPR and how much it has changed our perception of gene

editing. CRISPR was discovered when scientists were reading the DNA of e coli. They

found 5 identical sequences, and that puzzled them. Then scientists notice more and more

repeated sequences in bacteria and decide to give it the name CRISPR. Or Clustered

Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Then scientists realized that this was

virus DNA. A scientist then theorized that the virus DNA is a defense mechanism for the

bacteria. The bacteria then have the means to recognize invading viruses. The bacteria cut

little bits of virus and put them in their DNA, and they use the spaces as a memory

device. Then the proteins would scan all the viruses, and detect which one was the

specific virus, and they kill it. Jennifer Doudna essentially said that this was a tool that

we could use to cut DNA. So they thought they could replace the “mugshots'' that the

viruses use to detect the specific virus with a gene that causes Ofelia, then they would

find that gene, and kill it. Then you just easily put the right gene in, altering the genome. I

chose this source for my paper, because it gives valuable information about CRISPR,

while also talking about the ethics. It really helped me to understand the topic easily.

Genome.gov. (2017, August 3). What are the Ethical Concerns of Genome Editing? Retrieved

December 07, 2020, from

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https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genome-Editing/ethical-concern

With all the possibilities that CRISPR brings us, some have ethical concerns. It was made

clear by researchers that designer babies and gene editing for reproductive purposes

should not be commonplace at this time, even though CRISPR is a relatively cheap

technology. Being able to modify the human genome and embryo into a baby without the

gene for altimeters, or with the tall gene raises many concerns such as safety, consent,

morality, and if the experiments or test runs were to go wrong on an embryo. CRISPR

outcomes could have an effect on generations to come, and scientists are not sure if this is

ethical. I chose this source for my paper, because it is very easy to understand, and it has

very good points about the ethical concerns of CRISPR.

Jorgensen, E. (2016, June). What you need to know about CRISPR. Retrieved December 01,

2020, from

https://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_jorgensen_what_you_need_to_know_about_crispr?lang

uage=en

This video is very interesting. It is a TED talk about everything you need to know about

CRISPR. Ellen talks about many things that CRISPR could do, like wiping out a species,

bringing back the Wooly Mammoth, editing human embryos, and much more. She

explains that CRISPR is a new genome editing technology that is designed to cut genes

out of DNA, giving the possibility for scientists to use CRISPR to target and attack

specific genes and replace those genes with new ones by placing a new gene on the inside

of two homologous genes on the outside, fooling the cell. “CRISPR is a two-part system
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with the Cas9 protein and the guide RNA” (Ellen Jorgensen). She also shed light on what

everyone is saying about how CRISPR is very cheap and easy. CRISPR is cheap

compared​ to other genome editing technologies. It is easy if you have a professional lab

that contains the needed materials. So it is not something that you can do on your

countertop. I chose this for my paper because I think it really gave me a better idea for

my subject. I learned so much about what CRISPR is, how it works, and what it can do

from this video.

Says:, P., Says:, A., Says:, S., Says:, R., Says:, R., Says:, J., . . . *, N. (2014, July 31). CRISPR:

A game-changing genetic engineering technique. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from

http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2014/crispr-a-game-changing-genetic-engineering-techn

ique/

This source talks about how CRISPR works, and how it is used. It goes over that CRISPR

can be used in the lab, in medicine, and in industry. It also gives a quick summary of

what the future of CRISPR could look like. The article describes that we will have to

refine our ability to verify a particular guide RNA, so cas9 does not make any mistakes. I

chose to use this source for my Modern Genetics paper because it contains a lot of

valuable information regarding CRISPR. It helped me to understand some different ways

that CRISPR is used. 

Bibliography
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Admin, •. (2016, September 01). Bioethics in Brief – CRISPR, Gene Drives and

Genetically-modified Mosquitoes. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

https://www.biotech.iastate.edu/bib-crispr/

Ganguly, P. (2020, October 12). As genome-editing trials become more common, informed

consent is changing. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from

https://www.genome.gov/news/news-release/As-genome-editing-trials-become-more-co

mmon-informed-consent-is-changing

-, G., & Good News Network. (2020, November 30). Revolutionary CRISPR-based Genome

Editing System Destroys Cancer Cells 'Permanently' in Lab. Retrieved December 03,

2020, from

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/crispr-based-genome-editing-system-destroys-cancer-

cells-tel-aviv/

Jon CohenFeb. 28, 2., Jocelyn KaiserDec. 7, 2., Jon CohenDec. 7, 2., Dennis NormileDec. 7, 2.,

Jocelyn KaiserDec. 5, 2., Jeffrey MervisDec. 4, 2., . . . Lucy HicksNov. 9, 2. (2019,

February 28). CRISPR offshoot still makes mistakes editing DNA, raising concerns about

its medical use. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/crispr-offshoot-still-makes-mistakes-editing-

dna-raising-concerns-about-its-medical-use
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-, J., & Carfagno, J. (2019, December 13). Concerning Details of Last Year's Failed CRISPR

Genetic Editing of Human Embryos. Retrieved December 05, 2020, from

https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/4822260/

Ryan, J. (2019, June 19). Using CRISPR to resurrect the woolly mammoth. Retrieved December

05, 2020, from ​https://www.cnet.com/features/using-crispr-to-resurrect-the-dead/