According to a survey, more than half of the UK supports the idea of changing the genes of human embryos.
According to a poll commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust, more than half of the population supports the use of human genome editing to prevent children from developing serious diseases.
There was less enthusiasm for use of the procedure to prevent milder conditions such as asthma, with only 36% in favour, and to create designer babies, with only a fifth expressing support.
Younger generations were more in favor of designer babies than older people, with 42% of 16- to 24 year olds and 32% of 25 to 34 year olds supporting the use of gene editing to allow parents to choose features such as their child's height and eye and hair colour.
In the UK and many other countries it is illegal to perform genome editing on embryos that are intended for pregnancies, but the restrictions could be lifted if research shows the procedure is safe.
There are a number of heritable diseases that could be dealt with with the help of genome editing. In the future, the faulty genes that cause diseases can be rewritten in IVF to allow the embryo to develop into a healthy baby.
Despite enormous progress in the field, work is still needed to perfect genome editing and make sure it doesn't cause changes to DNA. The altered genes in the embryo could be passed on to future generations.
He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher, provoked global condemnation when he said he had tried to modify the genomes of two baby girls to make them resistant to HIV. He was jailed for violating rules. An international commission convened by the Royal Society concluded that genome editing was not ready for use.
If genome editing is to be used for medical purposes, it needs to be done in a scientifically and ethically rigorous way, according to the report.
The authors think that younger people are more willing to accept human genome editing for certain characteristics. We should continue to prioritize medical needs in the first instance, even though we should pay attention to these views.
The "maximum possible choice" for parents is to choose the physical characteristics of their children if they are not harmful.
He doesn't believe it's wrong to engineer either harmless or better than original traits in our children if we can. How does it make sense to implement a wish if you have the power? Eugenics is something we are prepared to say when people want to exercise innocent preferences.
According to a survey of 2,233 UK adults, two-thirds think the National Health Service should offer fertility treatment for people who are infertile and want to have a baby. Heterosexual couples receive the greatest amount of support, at 49%, while single people and people with different sexual preferences get the least.
The president of the British Fertility Society said that it was disappointing that attitudes to family structures remained traditional despite the fact that gender discrimination was illegal in the UK. The good news is that most people seem to have no objection to the procedure. IVF is a routine procedure so why doesn't the public get a chance?
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