Wednesday, March 27, 2019 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
This event will be webcast live from the CSIS page.
A firestorm followed Professor He Jiankui’s disturbing announcement last fall in Hong Kong that he had made heritable genetic changes in human embryos that resulted in the birth of twin girls. Critics pointed to the lack of oversight and transparency, the inadequacy of the informed consent process, the lack of a compelling medical rationale, potential unknown future harms to the edited babies, and the lack of a clear consensus about the actual use of new, powerful gene editing technologies. This historic incident has stirred an intense debate over both the promise of these technologies to cure devastating diseases, such as Huntington’s Disease, and alarm over the idea that these same technologies might be used to create “designer babies.” The National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, together with other international academies, have led vital international discussions over next steps.
On Wednesday, March 27, 2:00-3:30 pm, the National Academy of Medicine and the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security will host a conversation on the unfolding debate as to whether human germline genome editing should be permitted, the types of applications which might be appropriate, the standards and criteria that should be followed, and what regulatory or governance framework is needed.
Featuring:
Dr. Victor Dzau
President, National Academy of Medicine
Tim Hunt
Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Editas Medicine
Jeffrey Kahn
Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Anne-Marie Mazza
Senior Director, Committee on Science, Technology, and Law, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Moderated by
J. Stephen Morrison
Senior Vice President and Director, CSIS Global Health Policy Center
Press are welcome to attend.
Please direct any questions to Samantha Stroman ( SStroman@csis.org).
This event is made possible through the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
