Gene Editing Needs to Be Available to Everyone

When I was growing up, the idea of re-engineering human DNA was a staple of science fiction. Now, it’s a reality. Adult gene therapy -- editing the genome of a person -- is expected to soon be a treatment option for a number of otherwise intractable diseases. Meanwhile, scientists have successfully edited the DNA of human embryos, raising the possibility that parents might be able to modify their children’s genomes to save them from inherited diseases.

Much of the change from science fiction to science fact has come from a breakthrough technique known as Crispr. Though the technique still has a number of technical snags to work out, consensus in the biology community seems to be that these problems will be overcome.