Source: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/03/16/chinese-researchers-announce-designer-baby-breakthrough.html
Article: Chinese researchers announce designer baby breakthrough
Assessment: Fox News is a nationwide news source providing top stories on all matters around the world; it even covers top stories about space. It is a 24 hour, credible source that keeps its viewers in touch with the most recent information on top stories in many aspects of life.
Summary: A new science breakthrough has occurred that can lead to a “perfect” baby with no genetic mutations. CRISPR- a genome editing technique was used by Chinese scientists to clear any hereditary diseases in normal embryos. According to scientists this new technique is promising. The process is done disabling genes and introducing them to mutations that disrupt the code of the DNA sequence. This technique has been used before just not on normal embryos. Success has shown that it repaired almost 10% of genetic mutations in the embryos. While the experiment does look promising there are still questions regarding technology and this specific technique.
Analysis: The author starts off by stating this new discovery, and then led into some background information on CRISPR and how it works. Then she describes how Chinese scientists first started using the technique on abnormal embryos. Next, she explains the failures and successes the scientists have had with this technique. The scientists are having higher success rates when using CRISPR on normal embryos which is what makes this promising. The author then describes several actual cases involving CRISPR. The author finishes the article by stating that while the results looks promising, there are still many questions regarding if the technology at this point is safe enough for the embryos.
Opinion: I found this article very interesting and informational. It is incredible how babies can be genetically modified and made into perfect human beings. Eventually, babies will be born with no genetic mutations which means no disabilities. I think this experiment does provide promising results; however, I would be too scared to test it out on my normal embryo. The author of this article did an excellent job describing this experiment and the results of it. It was a very easy read. I am very interested in how this experiment progresses and will definitely continue to follow the rest of this new scientific breakthrough.
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