CRISPR Critters and CRISPR Cracks

Am J Bioeth. 2015;15(12):11-7. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2015.1104138.

Abstract

This essay focuses on possible nonhuman applications of CRISPR/Cas9 that are likely to be widely overlooked because they are unexpected and, in some cases, perhaps even "frivolous." We look at five uses for "CRISPR Critters": wild de-extinction, domestic de-extinction, personal whim, art, and novel forms of disease prevention. We then discuss the current regulatory framework and its possible limitations in those contexts. We end with questions about some deeper issues raised by the increased human control over life on earth offered by genome editing.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Bioethical Issues / legislation & jurisprudence
  • California
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats* / genetics
  • Endangered Species* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Extinction, Biological*
  • Food, Genetically Modified*
  • Genetic Engineering / ethics*
  • Genetic Engineering / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Genetic Research / ethics*
  • Genetic Research / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Genome, Human / genetics
  • Germ-Line Mutation
  • Humans
  • Legislation as Topic / standards
  • Legislation as Topic / trends
  • Medicine in Literature
  • Medicine in the Arts*
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Primary Prevention* / methods
  • Primary Prevention* / trends
  • Public Health / ethics
  • Terminology as Topic
  • United States
  • United States Environmental Protection Agency
  • United States Food and Drug Administration