Genome Editing, Bioethics, Policy and Politics in the UK and in the US - Huffington Post

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London have approached the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority - the UK Regulatory Body governing research on embryos, human embryonic stem cells and assisted reproduction - to request a license to apply CRISPR/Cas9 technology to human embryos.

The case is reminiscent of a debate going on in the UK almost ten years ago, when in 2006 scientists at King's College London and at the university of Newcastle applied to the HFEA for license to research on cybrids. At that time, very few people knew what cybrids were, and the most common reactions as elicited by the media were of 'disgust' and fear of human-animal monstruos creatures such as the mythical half-man half-bull Minotaur.

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