It is no longer a question of whether we can control an entire species gene code, but should we? Should we play with something that connects every living thing on this planet? Even if it meant that one of our deadliest enemies could be neutralized, or that over a million people every year could be saved from death? This is a question that scientists worldwide debate, but what is the deadliest animal to humanity? The minuscule but lethal mosquito.
Before I get back to our fork in the road of ethics we must first understand what we are doing and how. Our focus was malaria, a parasite transmitted to us in infected female mosquito saliva, that could be lethal. In 2015 alone, there were roughly 214 million malaria cases and an estimated 438 000 malaria deaths. Malaria is almost entirely independent on mosquitoes for transmission from human to human so erasing the middleman (mosquitoes) can eradicate malaria faster then it can adapt.
How can we change this? By using a gene editing tool called CRISPR (Cas 9), a revolutionary new, cheap and effective way that changed the way we edit different genes. Here is a video that explains what CRISPR is, how it works and some other issues surrounding CRISPR.
Now that you’re all caught up on CRISPR, what scientists have done is insert some D.N.A into mosquitoes that prevents the parasites from living in the salivary glands (we’ll call it gene A). It has been done before, but the problem was that whenever the mosquitoes reproduced, they had a 50% of passing on gene A. So theoretically, by the time the great grandchildren pop up, only 12.5% had gene A. Also, remember that mosquitoes lay 100-300 eggs at a time! So this time with CRISPR, scientists have added an extra gene that makes sure that gene A dominates 99.5% of the time!
So now that scientists have achieved their goal, by “creating” a mosquito that cannot carry malaria, they are left at an ethical crossroad. If they release the gene A mosquitoes, there is no going back! If something goes wrong there is almost no way of stopping it, and if malaria adapts so fast that it can be transmitted another way, it could be devastating for humans. While this is all the scientific side of ethics, we must also take into account the public’s opinion before before the release of gene A mosquitoes. If the majority of the public refuses we cannot release them at all, but if majority says yes, what will the minority do? These are all questions that can affect the way we live, considering the fact that this is the first time humans have done something this huge with genetic mutations! We have taken little steps before with GMO foods and small changes to animals (glow in the dark cats and fast growing salmon), so this would be a leap of faith.
CRISPR can lead to humans never being the same again, it can lead to a new era in humanities age, and it all starts with this single moment. So what do you, the youth of Calgary, say? Leave a comment below, I would love to hear what you have to say!
Image Credits: https://www.engadget.com/2015/12/03/worlds-first-in-human-crispr-hemophilia/