Abstract

MIGUEL BERIAIN, Iñigo de. To modify or not to modify the genome of our offspring? Some comments following the Declaration of the Spanish Bioethics Committee on genomic editing in humans. Rev. Bioética y Derecho [online]. 2019, n.47, pp.55-75.  Epub Dec 16, 2019. ISSN 1886-5887.

Genetic modification of the human germline presents major ethical and legal problems. The Spanish Bioethics Committee has published a Declaration offering a response to these challenges. This article critically analyzes its position, underlining the scarce consistency of any argument that attempts to censor any form of improvement in human health. To this end, questions such as the relationship between human dignity and genetic modification or the inconsistency of the appeal to the argument of the slippery slope in this context are raised. At the same time, this paper highlights the need to draw distinctions between interventions that affect absolute goods, such as health, and those that are not.

Keywords : gene editing; embryo modification; genetic engineering; gene therapies; Spanish Bioethics Committee; enhancement.

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