House lawmakers pushed to cut any funding for the genetic engineering of human embryos, taking a stance on a growing bioethics issue.
A House appropriations bill released this week for the Food and Drug Administration calls on the agency to not fund any research projects that involve editing the genes of a human embryo.
The move comes a few months after the National Institutes of Health banned funding for such research.
In April, Chinese scientists were able to edit human embryo genes to cut DNA from a genome and insert it into another genome. The edited embryo could be implanted in a woman’s uterus.
The goal is to edit a group of cells called the germline that passes down diseases from one generation to another. Scientists hope that by editing this germline, it will reduce the chance of passing on inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
But the process, which was not successful in the Chinese trials, ignited a host of ethical issues. For one, bioethicists believe the process would create a new kind of person and lead to a new type of inequality, with those rich enough to be genetically modified and those who can’t considered inferior.
While the House appropriations bill emphasized that lawmakers support medical research, genome editing “may involve serious and unquantifiable safety and ethical issues.”
While the NIH said it wouldn’t give any funds or grants to research projects, the FDA did not take such a hard line.
The FDA can technically approve a clinical trial studying germline modification. The agency has said it is aware of the ethical concerns.
