Political, Regulatory and Ethical Considerations of the CRISPR/Cas Genome Editing Technology

This chapter reviews political, regulatory and ethical issues related to the implementation of the CRISPR-Cas technology for genome editing in human cells. Regulations in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and China were selected as the main subjects of this study. The main topics in this chapter include current regulatory and policy issues in clinical research, human germ-line genome editing, genome editing for enhancement of human traits, xenotransplantation, mitochondrial genome modification, epigenome editing, intellectual property rights, and dual-use research. Moreover, this chapter highlights the following points: 1-public engagement and ethical deliberation are imperative with regard to the safe use of genome editing technologies, 2-individual and collective assessment of the potential risks should guide decision-making, and 3-regulations need to be flexible while maintaining precautionary measures.