
Open Season Is Seen in Gene Editing of Animals - rm2889
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/us/2015-11-27-us-animal-gene-editing.html
======
88e282102ae2e5b
> But the rapid advent of gene-edited animals threatens to outstrip public
> discussion of their risks and benefits, some scientists and bioethicists
> have warned.

I'm skeptical that an actual public discussion could ever occur. I have not
met a single non-technical person who can explain what DNA is or what it does.
All they know is that GMOs are different from what we had before and we're
changing things that are natural, which is (quite reasonably) frightening to
them.

I'd like to do more public outreach but the knowledge gap seems
insurmountable. For example, 80% of Americans support labeling food that
_contains DNA_ [1]. Where do you even begin with a person like that?

[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-
conspiracy/wp/201...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-
conspiracy/wp/2015/01/17/over-80-percent-of-americans-support-mandatory-
labels-on-foods-containing-dna/)

~~~
egocodedinsol
>I'd like to do more public outreach but the knowledge gap seems
insurmountable

You're not giving people enough credit. You can explain DNA from a functional
standpoint to children. The problem is bandwidth - there are many things a
given person will possibly might want to know that have big consequences.
However, it's not clear that everyone should know how GMO's work compared
with, say, nuclear energy, encryption, general food production techniques,
banking, medicine, global politics, and whatever they need to do for their
current occupation. Clearly a substantial number should, but everyone?

Like, imagine someone from the intelligence community saying they'd like there
to be a public discussion about terrorism, but they're skeptical it could ever
happen because 80% of Americans don't know where Boko Haram is located. The
answer isn't to throw your hands up and say that the knowledge gap is
insurmountable, it's to provide the opportunity for dialogue so that enough
people can engage the issue.

~~~
88e282102ae2e5b
These are great points. Thanks for this.

------
Idontagree
I know little about this field, having only recently started reading about it
with the salmon mentioned a few weeks ago, but I really hope we're on the cusp
of something new and this isn't just a pipe dream that gets drowned for any
number of reasons.

------
banku_brougham
Humanity is unable to comprehend the long term (> 4Q of earnings in this
context). Gene editing is cool, but we are 100% certain to experience some
world-changing screw ups from this.

~~~
zardo
I'm less concerned with screw ups than malicious applications. The technology
is just getting better and cheaper, controlling access to it ultimately won't
be possible.

Natural pathogens have caused an awful lot of suffering, it won't be long
before people start designing even more awful variations, if they aren't
already.

