This New York Scientist Is Treating Human Beings Like Lab Rats

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Heritage Foundation

A Chinese scientist caused an international scandal late last year when he edited the genes of a pair of unborn twins, in what became known as the CRISPR scandal.

But another scientist in New York is doing something quite similar, without incurring the international backlash. His research is rife with ethical concerns and has the potential to unleash a dystopian future on the world. 

Dieter Egli, a scientist based at Columbia University, is creating human embryos, editing their genome (that is, their DNA sequence), and then destroying them within 24 hours.

Destroying the embryos is key. Egli distinguishes his research from that of the condemned Chinese scientist involved in the CRISPR scandal because he has not brought any modified embryos to term.