This 36-month project will produce an assessment of the ethical issues posed by the development and use of CRISPR for human germline genome editing in China, and its impact on U.S. and global scientific peers, through the use of Delphi survey method, individual and focus group interviews, and deliberative workshop elicitation in Beijing, China, and Washington, DC. This project will provide first hand data on Chinese ethical perspectives on human germline genome editing that will be made publicly available, and data on how national differences are characterized, defended, and negotiated by practitioners. The data from this project are expected to produce several peer reviewed publications and feed into a variety of deliberative bodies on the ethical implications of human genome editing, such as the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, the UK Royal Society, the World Health Organization, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as other local, national, and transnational scientific and medical groups to inform policy and practice on the ground. In doing so, this work contributes to the goal of creating social science for informing public knowledge.
The project will engage a broad range of scientists using CRISPR for human applications, in basic and applied research, as well as ethicists and government officials, and will provide opportunities for cross-country deliberations and comparative analyses of ethical practices and regulations in different country contexts. This project will: (1) examine how U.S. and Chinese scientists are developing CRISPR technologies for human embryo research; (2) identify the conditions (organizational, cultural, and social) and regulatory environment that allow the fast paced application of CRISPR research in China; (3) evaluate U.S. and Chinese government oversight of CRISPR research for human applications involving different institutions, actors, and funding mechanisms; (4) assess U.S. and Chinese scientists' understanding and knowledge about the ethical implications of CRISPR for human germline genome editing; (5) use the gathered data to assess the ethical implications of CRISPR in China and the United States; and (6) offer short and long-term recommendations to help inform U.S. and international policymaking regarding human germline genome editing research.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
