by Burke K. Zimmerman

About the author: Burke K. Zimmerman has taught courses in ethics and human values in science, technology, and medicine at the University of California at Berkeley, George Washington University, and elsewhere. He frequently writes and lectures on bioethical issues as well as heading a biotechnology company in Helsinki, Finland.

The targeted, fully controlled modification of the human genome in a fertilized embryo is technically feasible. I shall thus begin by assuming, first, that we have a detailed knowledge of the human genome, the functions encoded by each set of genes, and the variations that make us different from one another, and second, that we are able both to correct obvious genetic pathology and to select—without introducing unwanted errors or genetic artifacts—the alleles that confer a variety of known traits to our...