Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Annotated Bibliography
Mya Verrone
UWRT 1104
Annotated Bibliography
Darnovsky, Marcy, and Elliot Hosman. “The Social and Political Dangers of Germline
www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/GeneWatch/GeneWatchPage.aspx?pageId=582.
This webpage article, “The Social and Political Dangers of Human Germline
Interventions” from the website “Council for Responsible Genetics” discusses and
explores the social and biological dangers of altering the human germline while in
embryonic form. Throughout the article, Marcy Darnovsky explains how mitochondrial
manipulation takes place and the benefits and dangers that it could cause. Taking genetic
material from three different parents and combining them with advanced technology is
not legal in the US but was recently deemed legal in the UK. In this article it is
mentioned that a doctor in New York recently took his research to mexico to proceed
where there are no regulations and rules restricting this kind of work and successfully
altered the embryo. The mother gave birth to a healthy child that was conceived via
mitochondrial manipulation. This opened up the floor for debate regarding the effects that
this could have socially and mentally on the children conceived this way. It is predicted
that this will have an adverse affect on family relationships and will prohibit the ability
for the children to gain a sense of self. A widened gap in social classes is also anticipated
and discussed. In conclusion of this piece, it is stated that without further widespread
debate on this topic, it should not be made legal. People from different fields of study and
ways of life should state opinions, concerns and then legal decisions should be made
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regarding the ethical standing of this issue. This source is credible due to the published
website that is often referred to by many medical officials and scientists. All of the
information that was stated here has aligned with my research that I have done prior to
this assignment. Marcy Darnovsky was also the author of one of the sources that I used in
my topic proposal and is a well respected figure in the scientific society. She completed
She is also the executive director at the center for genetics and society. This source is
useful to my research because it analyzes how this germline modification of embryos can
potentially affect social classes and the child that is conceived through this technology.
This piece explains how the process works, as well as the benefits and dangers that it
proposes. It expresses both sides that have been argued through the public and what
guidelines are in place to prohibit the immediate action of making this available to the
public. This source has also helped me modify key words like “genetic manipulation” to
“germline modification” that will make my research easier as I continue this process.
Kath, James., and Noam Prywes. “Brave New World? Not Even Close.” Scientific American. 2
August, 2017.
blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/brave-new-world-not-even-close. Accessed 9
March, 2018.
In this academic source, a study was conducted at the Oregon Health and Science
mutation in human embryos that lead to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This disease can
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lead to sudden death in those affected. With aid from the CRISPR, which is a piece of
scientific equiptmet that aids in manipulation of genetic material, they were able to use
three donors and take the malfunctioning gene and replace it with a healthy one from the
donor. This was done to 58 embryos and 72 percent of them did not have the mutation
after the procedure. These embryos continued to develop normally until they were
destroyed later by the research team. The research concluded that the procedure can be
life saving to anyone who may be affected by genetically inherited disease. After MIT
Technology review got word of this study, a fear of this leading to designer babies was
addressed. However, this academic article states that although designer babies are
possible to make in the near future, picking traits like height and eye color will extremely
complicated. Eliminating a mutated gene is much less complex. It was also recently
discovered that altering more than one gene with the CRISPR can be dangerous and
destroy chromosomal rearrangements. It states that if the CRISPR is made legal, it will
improve pregnancy rates and eliminate some inherited diseases. This article also assures
us that although this research can alter the genetic material of a single piece of DNA in an
embryo, altering many strands in an embryo is far too complex and it will not soon lead
to designer babies. This source is credible because information presented lines up with
previous research that I have done on the CRISPR technology and it provides accurate
information regarding a case study that was done in Oregon. This article relays the results
of that study accurately and states current debate around this issue following the study. It
also lists the opinions of a respected source, the MIT Technology review. The author of
this piece, James Kath completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University
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research because it provides the another perspective on the topic of genetically modified
embryos. Since I am analyzing the ethical opinions of this procedure and how it works,
this is useful because it suggests that although this procedure can be used to alter a single
mutated gene, it is not likely that it will lead to designer babies in the near future. It
suggests that this can fix mutations in malfunctioning embryos and could save many
lives. The possibility of designer babies is very complex and will require much more
Stein, Rob. “Breaking Taboo, Swedish Scientist Seeks To Edit DNA Of Healthy Human
www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/22/494591738/breaking-taboo-swedish-scie
In this article from NPR.org, a scientist in Sweden has began research of editing the DNA
of a healthy embryo. Lanar hopes to find how to prevent miscarriages and understand
how genes regulate themself in early embryonic development, but many are concerned
that access to knowledge of this topic will lead to designer babies. His work focuses on
how the embryos will regulate manipulation within the first seven days of development
with hopes that this will lead to a more thorough understanding on how stem cells from
human embryos could be turned into treatments for various diseases. During his research,
he and a graduate student thaw five embryos from viable donors and carefully insert them
with a new technology called the CRISPR, which allows scientists to carefully
manipulate and edit very specific elements of the embryos DNA. After the experiment,
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he found that one of the embryos survived and divided, showing evidence that the an
embryo can still develop once genes are manipulated and the other two that survived that
procedure are still being analyzed. However, following his experiments, an uproar was
allowed due to fear of the potential designer baby movement. It is not yet known the
potential problems that could come from this advanced research. One fear mentioned by
Marcy Darnovsky in this article is the potential of creating a new type of disease in an
embryo. This would be irreversible and could be very problematic. Despite the concerns
expressed by Darnovsky and society, Lanner assures NPR that he has no plans to modify
embryos past 14 days of development and does not think this should be used to
aesthetically enhance the looks or features of a child. This is actually still illegal in
sweden, and most places. However, Lanner states that this is important research and the
basic knowledge about this potential procedure is necessary and could save many lives. It
is mentioned that to prohibit this type of research would be counterproductive. This work
Stockholm in Sweden. The article is done by Rob Stein from the Health News section
operating under NPR. This source is well respected by the public and relays reliable
information regarding trending news in the scientific research field. This source is helpful
embryos and the technology used. It states his reason for doing this and the potential
benefits that it might make available for the public. It also discusses the opinions
regarding the topic from a well respected source, Marcy Darnovsky and the opinions of
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the public. It expresses both the pros and cons that access to this type of research can
provide. This source will help me explain the procedure itself and what kind of
technology is involved to help myself and the reader better grasp the possibilities that this
will provide, and it also evaluates that potential dangers of this, and what this new
research could potentially offer to society. Both the source and the writer providing the
information are credible. NPR delivers breaking national and world news using speakers
who are knowledgeable about the topics that are covered. This particular article had a
NPR correspondent cover the story by going to the lab and watching the process as it
happened. The information reported back to NPR and the readers therefore is credible.
unbiased information, compared to a source like CNN, which is for profit. This source is
useful to my research because it explains in depth how the research regarding embryo
manipulation is being conducted and the technologies involved. It also addresses the
response of the public and how people are responding to being one step closer to being
Sugarman, Jeremy. “Ethics and Germline Gene Editing.” EMBO Reports, 16 August, 2015,
This academic article from the NCBI website begins by addressing an article that was
recently published in China by scientists who had conducted research to modify human
embryos in non viale triploid embryos. This article then triggered debate among the
scientific community regarding the ethics and moral standing around this procedure.
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Although the procedure was not done in viable embryos with any intention of using the
modified embryo in clinical settings, an uproar was caused by this possibility. A new
technology called the CRISPR is used to aid in genetic manipulation and offers a way to
edit malfunctioning elements of DNA. This altering of the germline can lead to curing
diseases such as HIV and genetic diseases. This article explains that this technology can
give us the ability to edit genetic diseases in utero and fix them to eliminate the
possibility of death in a fetus. Without this technology, it is usually fatal to the fetus in
utero. Debate in this article explores whether or not this technology would do more harm
than good regarding the human germline. It is possible that a mistake made by this
technology could cause new genetic diseases or malfunctions that could be irreversible
and lead to other biological malfunctions. The risks of this are weighed heavily
throughout this article. It also states that the CRISPR could potentially be used to
generate gametes and fix genetic errors which would reduce the need for oocyte
donations. Following the explanation of the use and potentially benefits of this
technology, the author discusses the dangers of essentially “playing God” when it comes
to these types of procedures. Many argue that it is morally unacceptable to alter the
human germline and it lacks consent of future generations who will be heavily affected
by this technology. In the conclusion of this article, it is stated that thorough debate
regarding the ethical and legal aspects of this must be analyzed by the public, medical
professionals and government officials. Although this could have great benefits to
society, the dangers may outweigh the benefits. It states that the effects of human dignity
will be altered, but there is no one definition of human dignity so this is hard to assess
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and apply to the ethical value of the procedure. Finally, it is stated that there must be a
general consensus on the safety, ways to approach research and morality of this issue
before any type of clinical trials can be further developed. The website NCBI is a credible
source that provides current and accurate information regarding research and medical
field. This is the National Center for Biotechnology Information and is referred to by
many scientists and physicians. The author of this particular article, Jeremy Sugarman,
has conducted over 20 articles for NCBI over the years and is well respected professor of
medicine, health policy and management from Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of
Bioethics. He is also the deputy director for medicine of the John Hopkins Berman
Institute of Bioethics. The intended audience of this article is any scientific professional
genetic manipulation. This source was extremely useful to my research and has helped
me narrow down my question of inquiry to the moral and ethics side of this new medical
research. This article has helped me better understand the procedure and how it is
performed, the potential benefits and dangers of this new technology, and the opinions
regarding the moral and ethical side of the spectrum from a scientists perspective.
Peer Review
Great job with your annotated bibliography, I enjoyed reading this very dynamic topic which you
clearly established through valid sources to cite. In addition, you definitely captured the three
elements needed to complete each annotation. The recommendations I have is as follows: check
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formatting, check the first two citations; not sure you need a period, and possibly some minor
grammatical errors. Overall, this annotated bibliography was well structured and the hard work