A leading academic has called for an ethical approach to gene-editing that would preserve and protect embryos rather than destroy them in the process. Martin Clynes, Professor Emeritus of Biotechnology at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology in Dublin City University, said that such an approach would preserve the possibility of finding medical cures. “If gene editing could be used to eliminate or correct disease-causing genes (such as cancer predisposition genes) in sperm, ova, or individual embryos, thus sparing the individual and their descendants from inherited disorders, this would surely be a worthwhile undertaking,” he said.

“While the technology to do this may not be quite there yet, I believe it will be possible to do this before long and we should distinguish this clearly desirable application from unethical approaches which involve experimentation and destruction of embryos.”