Human Germline and Heritable Genome Editing: The Global Policy Landscape

This article in The CRISPR Journal represents an extensive survey of 106 nations regarding their policies on early-stage embryo genome editing research. It is the product of a collaboration between bioethicists at Dalhousie University and members of the Center for Genetics and Society. The authors argue that international policies about heritable genome editing were previously underreported. Their findings suggest that there is indeed some global consensus around the prohibition of heritable human genome editing. Most countries surveyed had policies explicitly banning such research and none had policies explicitly permitting it. Since its publication, this article has been extensively referenced not only as an illustration of this emerging global consensus around human genome editing, but also as evidence that national policy is stepping up to set limits on human genome editing.