Author: Bonginkosi Shozi, Fellow, Center for Law and the Biosciences, Stanford University

The recently updated South African Ethics in Health Research Guidelines have been a recent cause of concern, with some researchers and bioethicists interpreting them as allowing what’s known as heritable human genome editing. Read more: South Africa amended its research guidelines to allow for heritable human genome editing Heritable human genome editing involves editing the DNA of sex cells (eggs, sperm) or early embryos in a manner that may be inherited by offspring. Because the impacts on future offspring and society are unknown, there is vigorous and active ongoing debate on the ethics of such interventions. Rather than allowing heritable…