Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research encourages the continued use of CRISPR/Cas-9 in animal research and in adult human cell cultures as a means toward it’s eventual safe and efficacious use for the correction of disease genes in adult human beings.
NCER agrees with the calls for a self-imposed moratorium and an international meeting on the use of CRISPR/Cas-9 for germline genetic engineering on human embryos or human germ cells.
However, regardless of the outcome of these initiatives, NCER strongly supports a permanent ban on the use of CRISPR/Cas-9 for germline genetic engineering because it:
- Irresponsibly alters the human genome;
- Paves the way for designer human beings;
- Denies the child’s right to give consent to an experimental technique;
- Contributes to a eugenics culture that obliterates the basis for:
- Human equality, autonomy, and freedom
- Medicine and research that serves the human person, and
- Neighborly love and respect between persons