Mail-Order CRISPR Kits Allow Anyone to Hack DNA
<i>Finally, what about the nightmare scenario: Is CRISPR so easy to use that we need to worry about biohackers—either accidentally or intentionally—creating dangerous pathogens? Carroll and others think that the danger of putting CRISPR in the hands of the average person is relatively low. “People have imagined scenarios where scientists could use CRISPR to generate a virulent pathogen, ” he says. “How big is the risk? It’s not zero, but it’s fairly small.” Gersbach agrees. “Right now, it’s difficult to imagine how it’d be dangerous in a real way,” he explains</i><p>It&#x27;s hard for &quot;normal&quot; people to imagine how sociopaths or those with destructive aims will behave when given flexible tools like this. It&#x27;s kind of like how no one anticipated how social media networks whose ostensible purpose is to connect friends could be used to undermine elections, abet fraud, commit character assassination, and drive people to suicide.
And while the real-life example of using CRISPR to switch the limbs of tiny crustaceans sounds harmless, wait til someone mutates something bigger and more familiar for &quot;better&quot; attributes or capabilities that can cause direct harm or inadvertent effects. It&#x27;s probably already happened ... but we may not understand the impact for years.