Tech Billionaires Spearhead Efforts to Build Gene-Edited Designer Babies

Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several techno-enthusiastic billionaires are setting up privately funded companies to genetically edit human embryos, with the explicit intention of creating genetically modified children.

Heritable genome editing remains prohibited by policies in the overwhelming majority of countries that have any relevant policy, and by a binding European treaty.

Support for keeping it legally off limits is widespread, including among scientists working to develop gene therapies. A number of key opponents and skeptics are taking new steps to make their voices heard.

In May, the Global Observatory on Human Genome Editing, a university-based center, organized an international summit on human genome editing. Unlike the previous three summits sponsored by national science academies, its considerations of heritable editing focused on the eugenic implications and other societal risks it would entail.

Soon after, three scientific and biotech industry organizations devoted to cell and gene therapies issued a joint call for a 10-year global ban on heritable genome editing, citing safety concerns, lack of medical need, and social and ethical risks.