Relectura: Embryonic engineering and the commodification of the human genome

The Lancet publishes a meta-analysis on the clinical application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in the embryonic germline in lax regulatory jurisdictions. The report warns about the exponential increase in clinics that offer 'aesthetic and cognitive genetic improvement' at exorbitant costs, generating a debate about the possible biological bifurcation of the species. Multiple off-target anomalies are reported that compromise embryo viability and unpredictably alter the proteome.