{"title":"The unexpected and unanticipated announcement of the “world’s first” gene edited babies: breaching, repairing and strengthening community boundaries","authors":"R. Dimond, Jamie Lewis, Alice Sumner","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2022.2155124","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The 2018 announcement that the world ’ s fi rst babies had been born following gene editing was unexpected and unanticipated. In this article, we focus on the reaction to the announcement and explore how this revealed implicit and explicit assumptions about the role and responsibilities of scientists and scienti fi c standards. Through analysis of media coverage and public commentary about the birth of the “ world ’ s fi rst, ” we identify how the event was constructed as a breach of scienti fi c norms. We begin by identifying the use of an “ if true ” narrative, which contributed to the meanings of the technology and the births following the initial announcement. We consider two dimensions to the concept of “ breach, ” as an individual act of transgression and as a rupture of community norms. Finally, we consider the work of the broader scienti fi c community in repairing the damage and their attempts to strengthen its boundaries to prevent future transgressions.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Genetics and Society","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2022.2155124","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The 2018 announcement that the world ’ s fi rst babies had been born following gene editing was unexpected and unanticipated. In this article, we focus on the reaction to the announcement and explore how this revealed implicit and explicit assumptions about the role and responsibilities of scientists and scienti fi c standards. Through analysis of media coverage and public commentary about the birth of the “ world ’ s fi rst, ” we identify how the event was constructed as a breach of scienti fi c norms. We begin by identifying the use of an “ if true ” narrative, which contributed to the meanings of the technology and the births following the initial announcement. We consider two dimensions to the concept of “ breach, ” as an individual act of transgression and as a rupture of community norms. Finally, we consider the work of the broader scienti fi c community in repairing the damage and their attempts to strengthen its boundaries to prevent future transgressions.
期刊介绍:
New Genetics and Society: Critical Studies of Contemporary Biosciences is a world-leading journal which:
-Provides a focus for interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary, leading-edge social science research on the new genetics and related biosciences;
-Publishes theoretical and empirical contributions reflecting its multi-faceted development;
-Provides an international platform for critical reflection and debate;
-Is an invaluable research resource for the many related professions, including health, medicine and the law, wishing to keep abreast of fast changing developments in contemporary biosciences.
New Genetics and Society publishes papers on the social aspects of the new genetics (widely defined), including gene editing, genomics, proteomics, epigenetics and systems biology; and the rapidly developing biosciences such as biomedical and reproductive therapies and technologies, xenotransplantation, stem cell research and neuroscience. Our focus is on developing a better understanding of the social, legal, ethical and policy aspects, including their local and global management and organisation.