Comment on “Human dignity and gene editing”

Abstract

EMBO Reports (2019) 20: e47220[OpenUrl][1][FREE Full Text][2] In EMBO Reports 19(10): e46789 [1], de Miguel Beriain argues that “[u]sing human dignity as an argument against modifying the human genome and germline is a logical fallacy”. He maintains that logical considerations must lead to the conclusion that “… respect for human dignity should actually support arguments to continue with genetic editing of embryos”. The topic is of great urgency: The biomedical community, policymakers, and the public struggle to come to a consensus as to whether and under which conditions human genome editing should be admissible or desirable. As a concerned citizen and researcher in the life sciences, I would like to discuss why I find the author's arguments unconvincing and the conclusions misleading. If one believes that our dignity can only remain undiminished if the human genome remains unchanged, we cannot tolerate any (even natural) new mutations. This argument rests on the author's assumption that “unchanged” can and should be defined as “never mutating”. However, human dignity is not violated by the fact that human DNA can and does change. Human dignity suffers violation when some individuals are invested with authority to engineer the genomes of others who are not yet born. In other words, the relevant question is not how heritable information changes, but rather who is entitled to change it. The belief that only nature or a creator should have … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DEMBO%2BReports%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.15252%252Fembr.201847220%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F30498078%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/ijlink?linkType=FULL&journalCode=embor&resid=20/1/e47220&atom=%2Fembor%2F20%2F1%2Fe47220.atom