Badea Ana Ruxandra, Feeney Oliver
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy, Splaiul Independentei 204, 060024, Bucharest, Romania.
University of Tübingen, Ethics of Genome Editing Research Unit, Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine, Gartenstr. 47, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.
J Bioeth Inq. 2024 Jul 24. doi: 10.1007/s11673-024-10358-8.
Contemporary genome editing techniques have made genomic intervention-from microorganism to human-more accessible, easier to use, and more accurate than previous methods. We argue that, notwithstanding its merits in treating and preventing disease in humans, genome editing represents a potential threat for domestic and international security, requiring an integrated approach in regulating, detecting, preventing, and mitigating the risk of its use for malicious purposes. Despite the global regulatory ambitions of the 2021 WHO framework, we see insufficient attention given to the future prospect of dual-use genomic technology. Drawing parallels with the nuclear field, we suggest tentative practical steps for a way forward in dealing with genome editing technologies, such as: 1) adapting national (bio)security and defence strategies to include genome editing as a possible threat (with conceivable WMD potential); 2) enhancing the international dialogue on genome editing and raising the issue at the highest level; 3) working towards a global, legally binding verification mechanism; 4) tracking genome editing technologies.
当代基因组编辑技术使从微生物到人类的基因组干预比以前的方法更容易实现、更易于使用且更准确。我们认为，尽管基因组编辑在治疗和预防人类疾病方面有其优点，但它对国内和国际安全构成了潜在威胁，需要采取综合方法来监管、检测、预防和减轻其被用于恶意目的的风险。尽管世界卫生组织2021年框架有全球监管的雄心，但我们认为对两用基因组技术的未来前景关注不足。通过与核领域进行类比，我们提出了应对基因组编辑技术的初步实际步骤，例如：1）调整国家（生物）安全和国防战略，将基因组编辑作为一种可能的威胁（具有可想象的大规模杀伤性武器潜力）纳入其中；2）加强关于基因组编辑的国际对话，并在最高级别提出这一问题；3）努力建立一个具有法律约束力的全球核查机制；4）追踪基因组编辑技术。
