Real life Frankenstein: CRISPR babies

Students in Mrs. Joanna Dallam’s AP English classes have been discussing this controversial topic for a few weeks now. The class has finished reading Frankenstein and they have been comparing the science in the book to that of CRISPR, CRISPR being more advanced. Many AP English students said that they couldn’t believe what they were hearing at first. Senior Sam Fielder, says, “ My initial thoughts about Crisper was that it sounded like something from a Scifi novel and that it could easily get of hand and become dangerous.” Fielder added, “I don’t believe there is anyway for people to use crisper responsibly.” Her response was similar to another senior in Dallam’s class, Jack Palmer. He says CRISPR is a bad idea because “We shouldn’t be able to change a living thing.” Palmer says that we are, in short, taking the role of God by editing theses genes.

With this new technology, many questions are asked. One question the English class discussed is if CRISPR is beneficial or harmful, considering it has the ability to cure diseases. Fielder says, “Everyone has something about themselves that they would be OK with changing but deciding those changes for someone else isn’t morally right.” Palmer agrees that CRISPR isn’t beneficial to society, but that it will have a negative effect. He says that “Genetically modified babies are a bad idea because there will be less health threats on the population and there will be too many people on earth.”

Senior, Anna Racine, is doing a seminar on CRISPR, when asked if the new technology was morally correct Anna says “no I do not believe genetically modified babies are morally correct.” She adds that “it is dangerous and unpredictable and not in our nature to make babies exactly how we want them.” She finishes by saying that we need to let nature take its course and stop trying to make everything perfect.