CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

MARTIN ŠOLC CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ most suitable genome to pass on our offspring. We are not apathetic to who will give half of our future children’s genes. In fact, we have always been trying to choose their genes. 15 Regardless of the outline debate, in modern Western societies, the new eugenics is much more likely to be realised compared to the old eugenics from a medium-term perspective (in technologically advanced authoritarian societies such as China, the situation might be more complicated). The most important question related to human enhancement is, however, the delineation of the difference between treatment and enhancement 16 . The definition of the line between the two demarks where classic medicine ends and enhancement starts. The debate is philosophically complex and cannot be expected to provide us with universally accepted results. However, there is a general intuition that the aim of medicine is preserving and restoring natural bodily functions (capacities). Where these natural functions (capacities) of the human body are exceeded, we may speak of enhancement. These lines, as all lines, are sometimes blurred (for example in a case of a sight-restoring operation resulting in highly above-average sight). This traditional intuition was, nevertheless, aptly described by Michael J. Sandel: “Healing a sick or injured child does not override her natural capacities but permits them to flourish. (…) The reason is that medicine is governed, or at least guided, by the norm of restoring and preserving the natural human functions that constitute health.” 17 In contrast with this intuition, Oxford bioethicist Julian Savulescu sees no contradiction between treatment and enhancement since both aim at benefitting people 18 . 1. First Genetically Edited Babies In science, important progress usually takes a lot of time. However, there are occasions when breaking news strike like lightning. On November 25, 2018, the online journal MIT Technology Review published a surprising article 19 in which it referred to official Chinese Clinical Trial Registry documents which had been posted earlier in November. These documents noted the recruitment of couples for a study in which the first gene-edited babies were intended to be created. From the documents, it was furthermore clear that the genetic tests have been carried out on foetuses 24 weeks old which would itself be unique. It was known that the experiment was led by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui. At first, however, it was unclear what happened to the foetuses after the genetic tests. The news was not that surprising from a purely scientific point of view: the technology already existed. Human embryos had been genetically edited before, the first ones also in 15 See ibid., p. 1294. 16 See KUŘE, Josef. Enhancement: konceptuální ujasnění a základní podoby. [ Enhancement: Conceptual Clarification and Basic Forms.] In PAYNE, Jan, ČERNÝ, David, DOLEŽAL, Adam (eds.). Dobrý, nebo lepší život? Human Enhancement. [ Good, or Better Life? Human Enhancement. ] Ústav státu a práva ČR, Praha 2015, pp. 15-20. 17 SANDEL, Michael J. The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Harvard, 2007, pp. 46-47. 18 See SAVULESCU, Julian. Genetic Enhancement. In KUHSE, Helga, SINGER, Peter (eds.). A Companion to Bioethics. 2 nd ed. Malden, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2009, pp. 224-225. 19 REGALADO, Antonio. EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies. MIT Technology Review. (25 November 2018.) < https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612458/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating- crispr-babies/> accessed 24 May 2019.

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