Germ-Inating Solutions or Gene-Rating Problems: An Islamic Perspective on Human Germline Gene Editing

Lala, Ismail

doi:10.1007/s10943-019-00770-5

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…(Qur'an, 4:119). Modifying God's creation means apparent disobedience of a proscription that originated from the Qur'an ( Lala 2020 ). Before delving into how and if gene editing changes God's creation, we must first be sure which verse is so firmly and steadfastly adduced to in all issues of human alteration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A fundamental interaction principle is that adjustments, though physical, can have psychological impacts. An interest to follow a particular direction can simultaneously result in a primordial possibility, and a readiness (isti'dād) in Akbarian parlance ( Lala, 2020 ), which may be present in the genetic constitution. Thus, modifying human genes not only alters who we are in a physical sense but also, results in an ontological change that is against culture and religions for many faiths.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Researchers views about perceived harms and benefits of gene editing: A study from the MENA region

Abuhammad

Khabour

Alzoubi

2021

Heliyon

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Background: The development of gene editing technologies is very promising for the treatment of genetic diseases. However, gene editing can be also used to enhance the characteristics of healthy individuals. This study aims to determine ethical challenges that may face the constitution of gene editing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Methods: An online discussion forum about the ethical challenges of applying gene editing technologies was held. The participants were a group of researchers (n ¼ 28) from the MENA region. Results: Most of the participants agreed on the importance of gene editing for the treatment of genetic diseases. However, participants had concerns regarding the use of gene editing to enhance the characteristics of healthy individuals such as athletic abilities and intelligence. Among ethical issues that were raised are justice, harm, beneficence, discrimination, conflict with religion and culture, and lack of regulations. Conclusion: Several ethical issues were raised for using gene editing technologies based on the perception of biomedical researchers from the MENA region. Therefore, the scientific community and other interested bioethical, social, legal, and governmental parties should be provided with a detailed guide from the scientists in this area for future uses of this technology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researchers views about perceived harms and benefits of gene editing: A study from the MENA region

Abuhammad

Khabour

Alzoubi

2021

Heliyon

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Playing God? Religious Perspectives on Manipulating the Genome

Kalidasan

Das

2022

J Relig Health

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Comparative ethical evaluation of epigenome editing and genome editing in medicine: first steps and future directions

Alex,

Winkler

2023

J Med Ethics

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Targeted modifications of the human epigenome, epigenome editing (EE), are around the corner. For EE, techniques similar to genome editing (GE) techniques are used. While in GE the genetic information is changed by directly modifying DNA, intervening in the epigenome requires modifying the configuration of DNA, for example, how it is folded. This does not come with alterations in the base sequence (‘genetic code’). To date, there is almost no ethical debate about EE, whereas the discussions about GE are voluminous. Our article introduces EE into bioethics by translating knowledge from science to ethics and by comparing the risks of EE with those of GE. We, first (I), make the case that a broader ethical debate on EE is due, provide scientific background on EE, compile potential use-cases and recap previous debates. We then (II) compare EE and GE and suggest that the severity of risks of novel gene technologies depends on three factors: (i) the choice of an ex vivo versus an in vivo editing approach, (ii) the time of intervention and intervention windows and (iii) the targeted diseases. Moreover, we show why germline EE is not effective and reject the position of strong epigenetic determinism. We conclude that EE is not always ethically preferable to GE in terms of risks, and end with suggestions for next steps in the current ethical debate on EE by briefly introducing ethical challenges of new areas of preventive applications of EE (III).

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Germ-Inating Solutions or Gene-Rating Problems: An Islamic Perspective on Human Germline Gene Editing

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Researchers views about perceived harms and benefits of gene editing: A study from the MENA region

Researchers views about perceived harms and benefits of gene editing: A study from the MENA region

Playing God? Religious Perspectives on Manipulating the Genome

Comparative ethical evaluation of epigenome editing and genome editing in medicine: first steps and future directions

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