The first full human genome was released in 2003 and ever since, the journey to creating the first genetically modified human has been overwhelming yet has provided exciting new breakthroughs for medicine. Throughout this essay I will be covering the pros and cons regarding gene editing while trying to ultimately decide if humans will become a better society with this new technology or take being our own god too far.

Before addressing the Pro’s and Con’s, Webster’s Dictionary definition of gene editing is,“The manipulation of the genetic material of a living organism by deleting, replacing, or inserting a DNA sequence, typically with the aim of improving a crop or farmed animal, or correcting a genetic disorder.” The key words in this definition are deleting, replacing or inserting, which means when engineers and scientist coded the first genome the doors to modifying certain strands of DNA swung wide open. These are the type of genes that could lead to an increased risk of alzheimer's or an increased risk of developing certain types of cancers.

Con: We aren’t advanced enough yet

When forbes asked Adriana Heguy, molecular biologist and genomics researcher if she thought genetic engineering is a beneficial tool for humanity she responded with, “So far, genetic engineering has been largely advantageous for humanity. The reason I think it has been largely advantageous is that there aren’t many examples of genetic manipulations with bad consequences, and there are countless examples of good, beneficial developments.” Most Scientist will agree with Adriana because humans just haven't had enough time to truly know if this is something that is worth the risk. For example, a scary topic that has to be addressed is when do we draw the line between medicine and plastic surgery, would cutting out the gene of dwarfism be for medicine or plastic surgery of a cell? That is one of the many areas society will have to think about altering which will inevenablily lead to debates similar to the abortion debate. And do we really want another topic like that to arise? Will it bring us together or tear us apart even further? These are the questions genetic modification will force us to answer.

Pro: It's technically already been done.

In 2012 Jennifer Doudna engineered a tool to actually ‘cut and paste’ gene sequences called CRISPR. After the tool was released, genetic modification spread to the public eye and everyone started to get involved, sharing their opinion or wanting to know if they could get their own designer baby. But Jennifer also agrees partly with what Adriana thinks as well that we aren't there yet, although she thinks we are almost ready.

On the other hand some people like Chinese doctor, He Jiankui, believe we are ready to use gene editing. So that’s just what he did. He Jiankui attempted to cut out the gene sequence from the father's genome that was HIV positive. After the two twins were born, the chinese government rendered it as human experimentation along with taking away his Doctorate. Although he states the two twin babies are healthy there has been no confirmation from the unidentified parents.

Conclusion: Humans aren’t prepared to handle it correctly yet

After analyzing what I've read and how I've thought about the subject I've come to the conclusion that humans just aren't prepared to make genetic modification a mainstream medical practice yet. First of all, some people may have done the proserger but from past experiences we can't say that it 100% worked. the chinese doctor that worked with the set of twins trying to replace the HIV gene strain, was never confirmed as a stable “experiment”. The feedback from the governments and public made it clear that the majority weren't pro-genetic modification. As if our society doesn't already have enough life altering debates, we don't need another one that actually alters life (or our genes).