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　　This reluctance to impede fundamental research is shared by Jennifer Doudna of University of California, Berkeley, who co-invented Crispr and won a $3m Breakthrough prize last year (she is also tipped for a Nobel). US politicians, however, are twitchy; a proposal being considered in Congress would ban the Food and Drug Administration from approving clinical applications in human embryos.

　　美国加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)的珍妮弗•杜德纳(Jennifer Doudna)也不太情愿阻碍基础研究，她是Crispr技术的发明者之一，去年赢得了300万美元的“突破奖”(Breakthrough Prize)(很多人认为她还将获得诺贝尔奖)。然而，美国政界人士焦虑不安;国会正在考虑一项禁止美国食品药品监督管理局(FDA)批准人类胚胎相关临床应用的法案。

　　The cancellation of human disease at genome level, which affects an individual and all their descendants, requires contemplation beyond the laboratory — by philosophers, lawyers, clerics and the public. This has been absent. In the UK there has been febrile discussion over the prospect of creating “three-parent babies”using donated mitochondrial DNA; but genome editing could be capable of far greater things, and affects nuclear DNA — from which we derive our genetic identity.

　　在基因组层面消除人类疾病，将影响个人及其所有后代，这需要实验室以外的社会各界进行考量——哲学家、律师、宗教人士和公众。而这些人现在缺席。在英国，人们正在热烈讨论使用捐献的线粒体DNA生育“三亲婴儿”的前景;但基因组编辑能够做到更加伟大的事情，它会影响我们获得遗传特征的来源—— 核DNA。

　　Inserting new genes, which has yet to be carried out in human embryos, raises further questions. If, in one embryo, I paste in a royal flush of genes conferring resistance to Ebola, cancer and Alzheimer’s, have I created a superhuman? Will perfect health become the preserve of the super-rich? Start-ups such as Editas Medicine of the US are already gambling on this. We may one day have unaltered people living alongside a younger, gene-edited generation.

　　目前新基因插入还未在人类胚胎上进行过，这种技术提出了更多问题。如果我向一个胚胎插入一套基因，使其获得对埃博拉、癌症和阿尔茨海默病的抗性，我是否创造了一个超人?完美的健康会不会成为超级富豪的专属?美国的Editas Medicine等初创公司已经启动这场豪赌。有一天，未曾进行基因修改的人或许会和更年轻、进行过基因编辑的一代人共同生活在一个世界上。

　　That the discussion has not gone fully public might be because genome- editing technology is complex — and because, un­like with mitochondrial disease, there are no heart-wrenching personal tales on which to hang the debate. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a UK-based charity, is considering genome-editing; its views cannot come too soon.

　　这场讨论还未完全公开，或许是因为基因编辑技术比较复杂，也可能是因为不像线粒体疾病的相关技术，这场辩论无法用催人泪下的个人故事大做文章。英国慈善机构纳菲尔德生命伦理委员会(Nuffield Council on Bioethics)正在考虑基因组编辑;该委员会的意见让人期待。

　　Imagining ourselves as glorified books, penned in the language of genes, is a fitting analogy as we muddle on. At some point, society must decide whether any person deserves to be a perfect piece of prose, or whether we should each remain an unedited thriller with an unpredictable ending.

　　在我们继续摸索之际，一个合适的类比是把我们自己想象成一本用基因语言书写的精彩的书。在某个时间点，社会必须决定，是不是有任何人应该成为一篇完美的散文，还是该保持现状，继续做一篇未经编辑的、结尾不可预测的惊险小说?

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