Despite the positive factors that come with gene editing, it also has a few negative factors.
ISSUES
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ETHICAL ISSUES
GREATER RISK THAN BENEFIT?
The application of gene editing involves risks of producing off target mutations. Linkage between off target mutations has been found in both humans cells and animal cells. These mutations could lead to cell death or cell transformation. Although attempts has been made to reduce the side effects, there is still an important factor that comes with gene editing. S1
PASS ON MUTATIONS
When using gene editing, there is a possibility that the subject will receive a mutation and the mutation has a high chance of passing it onto its offspring. This might cause a danger to the species because if the subject reproduce there is a high possibility the mutation will affect future generations with disabilities within the species or even in extreme cases, extinction. S2
THE COST OF GENE EDITING
The cost of editing out genes could be a very costly
processes. Prices ranges from $1,000 being the lowest to $10,000 being the highest. This price range is only for the editing of the gene not including the other treatments. There is also an additional amount added for the IVF treatment which could cost up to $12,000. Also it is not a 100% guarantee that the treatment will work and the process could occur more than once making the price of the treatment go up. S3
SOCIAL ISSUES
PLAYING GOD?
Many religious figures and many people believe that the use of gene editing is very similar to playing god. They believe that us humans should not be able to alternate a person's life by editing their gene. People think that god gave them the mutation for a reason and that it is very unsafe to be messing with god's creation.S4
THE FUTURE
People believe that if gene editing advances enough to be able to make “designer babies” our future could look like the 1997 movie “GATTACA”. The movie “GATTACA” is based on a director's view, Andrew Niccol, on how our world will look like in the future. He, and many others believes that in the future, the world will be mostly inhabit by “designer humans” and that the normal people will not be able to fit into the society. This can cause problems because if the “normal” humans were to look for a job, it could cause difficulties because the “normal” human would not be as strong or intelligent as a “designer human”.S5
OVERPOPULATION
Catching diseases and inheriting mutation is a part of nature. It is what keeps our population balanced, however if we take the diseases and mutations out of the gene pool, it could cause overpopulation. The increase in population could cause a lot of environmental problems. The food and clothing industry will have to be explained to provide for people's everyday needs which would cause pollution to increase.S6
LEGAL ISSUES
The United States is currently one of the many countries who does not allow gene editing to be experimented on. Although they did not officially ban people from experimenting with gene editing, they temporarily imposes experimenting with gene editing due to the FDA and NIH guidelines. The reason for the banning is because they fear that it will disrupt the germline of species. The US plans to permit experimenting with genes when the safety of genome editing-mediated germline gene correction is enhanced. S7