4 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 17.1 ms ] thread
The article ends rather abruptly.

Is CRISPR really seen as a realistic cancer cure, or a significant component of one?

Not yet, it’s explored for prevention and some treatments but it’s not a cure on any measurable scale.

Only a few cancers have been tied to specific genes and even then it’s not exactly clear.

The stance of the US government on this issue is completely hypocritical considering that there's drugs advertised on TV just about every weekend which can cause the ultimate side effect: death. Or is it that the pharmaceutical companies have more competent lawyers than the universities which are capable of dealing with avoiding liability with a clearly experimental treatment?
Death is not the ultimate side effect at all. The ultimate side effect I can think of would occur when these genetically modified humans reproduce - a permanently corrupted human genome with unforeseen, potentially species-ending side effects down the line. We don’t know what we don’t know yet.