ETHICAL ISSUES
Safety and Consent: If procedures fail, it could result in massive cell death due to harmful mutations. In addition, any human germline edit can be passed down. This poses a concern because future generations did not give consent to such procedures.
Human Embryos: According to a group of people, their morals consist of the belief that a human embryo is a human life. Experimenting on humans is looked down upon and a topic of controversy.
Inequality: With the rise of gene editing for the "perfect baby", people could potentially weed out any flaws in their DNA, creating an unstable social hierarchy based on genetics. While wealthier people are able to afford these luxuries, the rest of the population will be put at a significant disadvantage. This poses the problem of "unnatural selection", where minority groups artificially change their DNA to become superior to a majority population.
Costs: Personal treatments can cost over $10,000. As a result, wealthier patients have an advantage. Some research facilities also lack funding for experiments, resulting in delayed or inaccurate results.
SOCIAL ISSUES
Legal ISSUES
Certain forms of gene editing are currently illegal, including editing human embryos. Human cloning is also illegal, which brings question to whether or not scientists can duplicate embryos for research.
For example, about 29 countries ban human embryo experimentation, including Canada, Mexico, Australia, and parts of Europe.
