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International Summit Perspectives

In May 2025, The Global Observatory convened an International Summit on Genome Editing. This collection contains perspectives written specifically for the meeting and collected in special edition of The CRISPR Journal.

Pre-Summit Statement: A Reset for Bioethics: A Statement from the Global Observatory for Genome Editing

Perspectives

Moses et al: Introducing Perspectives from the Global Observatory for Genome Editing. By Jacob Moses, Benjamin Hurlbut, Sheila Jasanoff, and Krishanu Saha

Baylis, Francoise: Summitting CRISPR for Human Heritable Genome Editing

Campbell, Philip: The Roles and Responsibilities of Scientific Journals in Research Governance: Editorial Policymaking at Nature and Springer Nature (1995–2023)

Chandru et al: Intent to Cure: The Need for a Rare Disease Platform in India and Across the Global South

Dryzek, John: Toward a Global Deliberative System for Genome Editing

Hunt, Timothy: Will Advances in Genetic Medicine Lessen the Need for Germline Modifications?

Keenan, James: Introducing Faith-Based Claims to Ethical Discourse on Scientific Matters

Mathur, Roli: Can Genome Editing Therapies Offer Hope Rather Than Frustration? A Perspective on Ethics in India

Mills, Peter: Institutional Bioethics: From Critical Interdisciplinarity to Cosmopolitanism

Musunuru, Kiran and Fyodor Urnov: Moving Therapeutic Genome Editing into Global Clinical Trials and Medicine

Nadimpally, Sarojini and Keertana Tella: Recalibrating Health Governance, Equity, and Reproductive Rights in India: A Case Study from the Global South

Newman, Stuart: Opposing Human Genetic Engineering

Phalkey, Jahnavi: Science with Society at Science Gallery Bengaluru

Qiu, Jane: From ‘Frankenstein Science’ to Cosmopolitan Ethics: Overlooked Perspectives on the ‘CRISPR Babies’ Scandal

Salimullah, Tay: Starlink Medicines in Jurassic Healthcare Systems—Are We Ready?

Sunder Rajan, Kaushik: Biotechnologies in the World: On Global Asymmetries and the Need for Cosmopolitanism

Terry, Sharon: Editing the Future: A Call for Justice, Humility, and Communion

Truog, Robert: Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committees: A Model for Oversight of Innovative Research?

Williams, Patricia: The New Old Colonialism

Other Key Resources

Taking responsibility: Asilomar and its legacy

Fifty years ago, a group of scientists paused work in their labs to discuss the risks of a dawning biotechnology revolution.

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.
A global observatory for gene editing
Sheila Jasanoff and J. Benjamin Hurlbut call for an international network of scholars and organizations to support a new kind of conversation.
Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Conceptual Challenges
A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection.
Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Institutional Design
A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection.
Constitutionalism at the Nexus of Life and Law
J.
Democratic Governance of Human Germline Genome Editing
An international regulatory commission convened by scientific academies is a premature and problematic approach to governing human germline genome editing.
CRISPR Democracy: Gene Editing and the Need for Inclusive Deliberation
CRISPR raises basic questions about the rightful place of science in governing the future in democratic societies. This editorial argues that the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA is a poor model for governance of emerging gene editing technologies.
Statement on Human Germline Genome Modification
ISSCR released this statement shortly before the publication of CRISPR research on nonviable human embryos. It suggests a moratorium on clinical germline genome editing research.
Statement by the Organizing Committee of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing
This statement was released by the organizing committee of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong in 2018, immediately following the revelation of He Jiankui’s heritable genome editing experiments.
Statement from the Organising Committee of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing
This statement was released by the organizing committee of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London in 2023. It continues the trend from the second summit statement of laying out a path to clinical applications of human genome editing.