'Who are we to say they shouldn't exist?': Dr. Neal Baer on the threat of CRISPR-driven eugenics

Since CRISPR was first conceived as a gene-editing tool in 2012, scientists have seen its awesome potential.

It promises to revolutionize the treatment of genetic disorders. It's being used to genetically engineer pig organs for transplant surgeries and to develop new antibacterial treatments. It's being used to breed crops and livestock, as well as modified mosquitoes that thwart the spread of disease.

But CRISPR also has a dark side — it could become an instrument of eugenics.

The ability to easily edit genes comes with the theoretical potential to pare down the diversity of humankind, categorizing some traits as acceptable and others as diseased or "unfit."

This dark side rears its head when scientists consider editing germline cells, which give rise to eggs and sperm, said pediatrician Dr. Neal Baer, a co-director of Harvard's Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health, who edited a new book called "The Promise and Peril of CRISPR" (2024, Johns Hopkins University Press). Edits to germline cells can be passed down to successive generations, he emphasized.

"That's where I became a bit worried — who would decide what was passed on or what wasn't passed on?" Baer told Live Science. That question became a focus of the new book, which features essays from bioethicists, scientists, philosophers and activists. Live Science spoke with Baer about the text and the many ethical quandaries raised by CRISPR Technology.

Related: CRISPR 'will provide cures for genetic diseases that were incurable before,' says renowned biochemist Virginijus Šikšnys