International Summit on Human Gene Editing

The International Summit Planning Committee on Human Gene Editing, on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Royal Society (RS), and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) organised an International Summit on "Human Gene Editing" on 1-3 December 2015 in Washington, DC (US).

The summit convened global experts to discuss the scientific, ethical, and governance issues associate with new and emerging human gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9. These technologies could lead to promising, novel ways to treat devastating diseases, but they also raise concerns, particularly because of their potential to be used to make genetic changes that could be passed on to future generations, thereby modifying the human germline.

The summit was part of the NAS and NAM Human Gene-Editing Initiative. The initiative was launched to inform decision making related to human gene-editing research. For more information about the initiative, see here.

For the International Summit Statement, see here.