Playing God with Genes

One day in freshman bio, my class was learning about selective breeding and artificial selection to produce bigger crops and animals. A girl raised her hand and asked if that same idea could be applied to people. Unwittingly, she had just stumbled onto a policy from 100 years ago.

Have you ever had an idea that you were so sure was right, only to find out it wasn't? Probably. Has that idea ever led to the suffering of millions? Probably not. While you may not be able to claim this dubious distinction, Francis Galton can. A cousin of Charles Darwin, he took his famous relative's theory and extended it much farther than intended. He created the field of eugenics, a pseudoscience (meaning it had no real basis). It was a form of race science, which in general was very popular in the late 19th century/early 20th century (for anyone taking APUSH, see Social Darwinism).

     Finalists for a eugenics contest at a state fair (creepy, right?)

                                   
                                 

Eugenics essentially said that the human race could be "improved" by selecting for desired traits; essentially selective breeding, but for humans. This may sound crazy now, but back then it was considered a totally legit science: classes on the subject were taught at universities and the first International Eugenics Conference took place in 1912. Much more dangerous was the legislation passed in the US, which took the lead in ensuring the fitness of its population. 32 states passed laws from 1907-37 allowing for forced sterilization of those deemed unfit to reproduce.

The Nazis based their policies off of these US laws, culminating in genocide. After WWII, when the public saw what these ideas led to, eugenics was discredited. But recently there have been fears of a revival of eugenics. These fears stem from CRISPR, a tool for genomic editing.

Bacteria have long stretches of DNA (called CRISPR, or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) in them that are actually copies of viruses, allowing the bacteria to recognize when the virus has invaded; think of it like a mug shot letting you identify a past criminal. Once the virus has been recognized, bacteria send the Cas9 enzyme to chop up the virus. Taking advantage of this, scientists created guide RNA, which can cut the bacteria's DNA at any point. The bacteria then deploys Cas9 to fix this cut, using a DNA template that scientists have provided to make new DNA. Essentially, the bacteria is "tricked" into creating genes that humans want.

The basics of CRISPR

                                                         

This technique has been used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice, create malaria-resistant mosquitoes, and make pig organs that can be transplanted into people. Last year, a Chinese scientist created the first CRISPR-edited babies, having deleted a gene in the embryos, thus making the offspring resistant to HIV and other diseases. This led to an international outcry, not so much for what was done, but for what can of worms this could open. There are fears of a world of "designer babies," where parents who can afford to will choose what they want their kids to be like; the movie Gattaca showed what this future could be like.

So much drama over a little protein

In the wake of the outcry, the heads of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences have called for the international scientific community to agree upon standards for the legitimate use of CRISPR; this is to ensure the technology does not go towards nefarious ends. While we are a long way off from creating designer babies, there are still legitimate concerns about the use of CRISPR and its regulation. That does not mean the technology should be banned, as much good can come from this tool. As humans get closer and closer to being able to play God, we must be careful with how we use these new powers and ensure that we do not return to the dark days of eugenics.