
First US Patients Treated With CRISPR As Human Gene-Editing Trials Get Underway - spking
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/16/712402435/first-u-s-patients-treated-with-crispr-as-gene-editing-human-trials-get-underway
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djsumdog
The genie is out of the bottle, and it's not going back in at this point. The
in-embryo editing is the most troublesome, but even these trails raise serious
concerns.

Can CRISPR be weaponized and permanently damage the genes of a large area of
people? What type of unintended modifications/side-effects may occur when used
as a treatment? What happens when this finds its way outside the lab? Will
treating some disease lead to causing others?

Could this be the great filter? How many other civilizations in our galaxy
have been wiped out due to experiments in gene editing? Or maybe this will be
the beginning of discovering the secret of aging? Could this type of research
lead to a time when humans live two to three times as long? Need a fraction of
our current food supply? Are we headed for a new era where life can be
preserved indefinitely?

There is a world of possibilities. Let's hope humanity collectively picks the
right ones.

~~~
mirimir
> Can CRISPR be weaponized and permanently damage the genes of a large area of
> people?

Old Bill Burroughs went on about that, sort of. That is, race-specific viruses
for efficient genocide. It's probably also an SF trope, but nothing comes to
mind.

~~~
kbaker
<spoiler>The Utopia TV series from BBC channel 4.</spoiler>

Amazing show.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(UK_TV_series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_\(UK_TV_series\))

~~~
dane-pgp
Note: The name of the channel that the TV series was broadcast on is "Channel
4". There is a British channel called "BBC Four", but not all British
television channels are operated by the BBC.

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faitswulff
How are they dealing with the purported 96% human rate of immunity against
CRISPR?

1\.
[https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/243345v1](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/243345v1)
2\.
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0204-6](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0204-6)

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mises
I think the concern around crispr enhancement is a positional arms race. Maybe
some enhancement is safe, but once the option is available, people will go to
extremes to get ahead. You can say otherwise, but I saw adderalls passed
around before tests and SATs when in school; I'd say that's the same idea.

Oh, you think we can just have the government establish a safe and sensible
limit? Right, because that's worked in the past.

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ourmandave
Seesh, I read that as *First US Patents Treated With CRISPR As Human Gene-
Editing..."

There's a huge battle going on over who owns the patents on CRISPR. Since it's
worth billion of dollars I assume it will go own for some time.

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MiddleEndian
This is great news. I've mostly heard about it for embryos so I'm glad that
options for existing people are being explored.

