定製寶寶基因：繼承父母所有優點

Letting parents use new gene-editing technology to pick characteristics of their unborn child can be “morally acceptable” as long as it doesn’t increase social inequalities, an influential medical ethics group has said.

某頗具影響力的醫療倫理集團稱，讓父母通過基因編輯技術塑造胎兒，這件事兒“從道德層面講可以接受”，前提是不引發社會不公。

In a major report on the looming frontier of human gene-editing, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCB) said it did not believe there was an ethical red line in tinkering with the genetic material that will be passed to future generations.

英國Nuffield生物倫理集團（NCB）在隱約涉及人類基因編輯的報告中說，NCB認爲，調整基因和下一代之間並無倫理警戒線。

It also did not draw a distinction between using these techniques to tackle genetic diseases and for enhancing desirable physical or intellectual traits, so-called “designer babies”, so long as it meets strict ethical and regulatory tests.

在用基因編輯解決基因疾病和提升人的身體素質、智力因素方面，NCB並沒有畫出明顯的邊界線，也就是說，“定製寶寶”只要滿足倫理界限和常規檢查，它就可以存在。

The group, which appraises the ethical realities of new technology, called for the government to begin canvassing national opinion and said copies of the report would be sent to ministers and civil servants.

NCB負責評估這項新技術的倫理可行性，該組織號召政府說服民衆，還表示會將報告發給各位大臣和所有公民。

UK law does not currently permit any editing of heritable DNA – genetic information contained in an embryo, egg or sperm – though it is allowed for strictly controlled research purposes.

目前，英國法律並不允許應用基因編輯去改造可遺傳基因（即存在於胚胎、卵子和精子內的遺傳信息），但是允許嚴格的實驗室環境中做實驗。

Even this, however, is hugely controversial and could have implications for people with diseases or less “desirable” traits if they become less common. Any change to the law would have to be subject to a national public debate and parliamentary legislation, as well as extensive testing for the safety of gene editing, the NCB said.

即使如此也引起了軒然大波，如果基因疾病減少，可能會引發對患病者或“不那麼完美”的人的歧義。NCB說，法律的任何變更都要通過民衆辯論和國會立法來決定，基因編輯的安全性也需要持之以恆的測試。

But a change is needed as we continue to expand our understanding of the human genome, and which gene instructions affect different diseases and traits. The arrival of precision genetic editing techniques like crispr has made correcting damaged or undesirable genes a real possibility.

但是隨着人類增進對基因組的瞭解，必須做出改變。基因結構影響多種疾病和人的特性。像基因剪刀crispr這樣精準的基因編輯技術使得修復損壞基因或是不良基因成爲可能。

Professor Karen Yeung, chair of the NCB report group, a law and ethics expert at the University of Birmingham, said these advances could have “profound consequences [which] affect the genetic make-up of society".

NCB報告小組組長凱瑞·楊是伯明翰大學法律倫理專家，他說基因編輯技術上的進步可能會“帶來深遠影響，會改變整個社會的基因構造。”

“There was an enormous range of views, including that we should not do this as to do this would be to take a step humanity should not take,” Prof Yeung said.

“大家衆說紛紜，有人說不應該踏入人類禁區。”

“We thought quite hard about this and came to the view that, in and of itself, intervening in the heritable genome would not be morally objectionable.”

“我們對這件事討論了很久，得出結論，干擾可遺傳基因組在道德方面上是可行的。”

Any ethical debate will also naturally run against practicalities like funding. Many patients already report a postcode lottery in accessing IVF and fertility treatment based on their local NHS funding, and gene editing could initially be out of reach for all but the richest.

任何有關倫理的辯論最終都會和基金這樣的形式形成對立面。很多患者在用當地的國家醫療服務體系嘗試試管嬰兒和生育治療時遭到反對，只有富豪才能進行基因編輯。

On this matter Professor Yeung said if funding inequalities “were to exacerbate social injustice, in our view that would not be an ethical approach”.

針對此事，楊教授說，如果基金不公“會激化社會偏見，我們覺得這可能不是倫理能解決的問題”。

（翻譯：阿忙）