Traces the history of gene therapy research and discusses the politics involved in this medical revolution.

Since the 1970s, the interrelated areas of medical genetics and biotechnology have developed dramatically and afforded increased control over the design of living organisms. From the very beginning, controversies over these techniques and their applications to plants, animals, and humans have raged in many disciplines--including science, philosophy, ethics, and religion. This book brings together the seminal essays of two leading Catholic moral theologians--Thomas Shannon and James Walter--in an effort to identify the key ethical and theological questions raised by the new genetic medicine. What is unique about this book is that it specifically and directly brings modern genetics and the Roman Catholic theological and ethical tradition into dialogue. While the authors argue that the Catholic tradition has much to offer in putting this current scientific revolution into perspective, they well understand the need to avoid merely repeating the tradition in favor of bringing the best of the tradition to bear on the precise questions posed by modern genetic technology.

Record of correspondence, proceedings of conferences, guidelines proposed and released, public announcements, etc., documenting the role of the National Institutes of Health in the development and promulgation of the guidelines of June 23.

One of the world's leading experts on genetics unravels one of the most important breakthroughs in modern science and medicine. IIf our genes are, to a great extent, our destiny, then what would happen if mankind could engineer and alter the very essence of our DNA coding? Millions might be spared the devastating effects of hereditary disease or the challenges of disability, whether it was the pain of sickle-cell anemia to the ravages of Huntington’s disease. But this power to “play God” also raises major ethical questions and poses threats for potential misuse. For decades, these questions have lived exclusively in the realm of science fiction, but as Kevin Davies powerfully reveals in his new book, this is all about to change. Engrossing and page-turning, Editing Humanity takes readers inside the fascinating world of a new gene editing technology called CRISPR, a high-powered genetic toolkit that enables scientists to not only engineer but to edit the DNA of any organism down to the individual building blocks of the genetic code. Davies introduces readers to arguably the most profound scientific breakthrough of our time. He tracks the scientists on the front lines of its research to the patients whose powerful stories bring the narrative movingly to human scale. Though the birth of the “CRISPR babies” in China made international news, there is much more to the story of CRISPR than headlines seemingly ripped from science fiction. In Editing Humanity, Davies sheds light on the implications that this new technology can have on our everyday lives and in the lives of generations to come.