Gene Editing, the Good First and then the Worries

Context: With the Chemistry Nobel, and the limelight on CRISPR-Cas9, there is a felt need for guidelines for gene-editing research in India. 

Significance of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020:

• Push towards Genome Editing: The two scientists (Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna) have pioneered the use of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) – Cas9 (CRISPR associated protein 9) system as a gene-editing tool. 

• Encouragement to women: The recognition that Charpentier and Doudna’s work has received will encourage women to take up science as a career.

Controversy over the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020: While the Nobel has been awarded on the discovery of CRISPR technology, many earlier works have gone unnoticed.

• The discovery of CRISPR can be traced back to 1987 when a group of Japanese researchers observed an unusual homologous Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) sequence.

• A notable discovery on the use of CRISPR as a gene-editing tool was by a Lithuanian biochemist, Virginijus S?iks?nys, in 2012. 
• Systems discovered before CRISPR can cleave DNA at speci?c sites. (E.g. the Zinc -finger nucleases)

Challenges before gene-editing technologies:

• Lack of Transparency and Accounting mechanisms: led to the arbitrary use of the technology

•  E.g. in 2018, a Chinese scientist edited genes in human embryos using the CRISPR-Cas9 system that was subsequently implanted and resulted in the birth of twin girls. Later, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called upon to start setting up a registry of all human genome editing research. 

• Lack of explicit guidelines for gene-editing in India: None of the following laws and regulations explicitly talks about gene editing

• “Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export, and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989” noti?ed under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, regulate genetically modi?ed organisms. 
• National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving human participants, 2017 by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill implies regulation of the gene-editing process. 

Conclusion: It is time that India came up with a speci?c law to ban germline editing and put out guidelines for conducting gene-editing research giving rise to modi?ed organisms.