Kerry Macintosh has published a peer-reviewed article entitled Heritable Genome Editing and the Downsides of a Global Moratorium in The CRISPR Journal. She acknowledges that Dr. He Jiankui acted prematurely when he implanted edited embryos in women, leading to the recent birth of twin girls with modified genomes. However, she argues that a global moratorium on heritable genome editing could discourage basic research that could eventually lead to correction of genetic mutations that cause disease. She also contends that the moratorium could encourage nations to enact legal bans that stigmatize children born with modified genomes as undesirable and unworthy.
