Scientists proposed a long-term project Thursday that involves creating DNA blueprints for making human beings, a prospect some observers find troubling.
The researchers said they have no intention of using these genomes -- huge collections of genetic material -- to make people. Instead, they said in interviews, human genomes would be used in lab experiments, inserted for example into cells or simplified versions of organs called organoids.
http://refleks.eu/pl/produkty-i-uslugi/lustra the Science paper's commitment to public involvement, but they still had reservations about the project.
Basic ethical questions still need to be asked, like whether developing the ability to make human genomes is a good idea, wrote Laurie Zoloth, a professor of religious studies and bioethics at Northwestern University, and Drew Endy, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford.
To construct a genome, even just in a cell, "implies a level of power and control that must be carefully and fully debated," Zoloth wrote in an email.
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Science: http://www.sciencemag.org
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Follow Malcolm Ritter at http://twitter.com/malcolmritter His recent work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/malcolm-ritter
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