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A majority of Americans approved for a change of the baby's DNA for the purpose of improving the child's health, a new poll shows.
A Pew Research Center poll found that 76 percent of Americans say that editing a baby's genes in order to prevent a serious disease at birth is acceptable.
The survey found that 60 percent of Americans are in favor of the use of gene-editing technology
At the same time, a majority consider the use of such techniques to boost a baby's intelligence, for example, a step "too far" – only 19 percent of those questioned were in favor.
About 2,537 people in the US took the survey between April 23 and May 6, 2018.
Gene editing in babies is inching closer to becoming a reality as a new technology, known as CRISPR, which can effectively cut the DNA (19659007)
In June, US researchers deveoped a technique to edit some features badociated with autism in mice But they are still not sure if this will ever be safe in humans.
In another study, described in the journal Nature scientists detailed the possibility of using CRISPR to edit genes in human embryos to correct a mutation that causes a heart defect.
"Every generation on would Carrying this repair because we've removed the disease-causing gene from family lineage, "one of the lead researchers Shukhrat Mitalipov, told the BBC.
" By using this technique, it's possible to reduce the burden of this heritable
Still, questions remain about the safety and ethics of editing the genome. "Currently, the US Food and Drug Administration does not allow clinical trials The New York Times .
"A method of being able to avoid being affected by these diseases. families, "Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told the BBC
" In terms of when, definitely not yet. It's going to be quite a while before we know it's going to be safe. "
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