Most scientists concede that biomedical research using genetic engineering should proceed cautiously, but many fear that laws criminalizing these experiments are dangerous and represent a step backward for science. According to Paul Berg, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on recombinant DNA, “Criminalizing pure science is an absurd throwback to prohibitions on speaking out on scientific issues or new truths.”

Throughout history, people have frequently reacted to advances in technology with fear, which in turn has often been followed by attempts to ban and sometimes make it a crime to use the new technology. In 1734 French philosopher Voltaire argued for experimental inoculation against smallpox. According to historian Alan Charles Kors, Voltaire asked French leaders to consider “the benefits to be gained by applying our knowledge of nature to the knowable and remediable causes of...