Human germline genetic modification has long been a controversial topic. Until recently it remained largely a hypothetical debate: whether one accepted or opposed the idea in principle, it was not only too risky but impractical to execute in reality. With the advent of genome editing technologies, however, heritable modifications to the human genome became a much more concrete possibility; nonetheless, the consensus has to date remained that human heritable genome editing is not yet safe enough for clinical application. The announcement of the birth of two genome-edited babies in late 2018, therefore, was condemned almost universally as premature, irresponsible, and dangerous. But what does responsibility require, and from whom? How should risk and precaution be balanced in assessing heritable genome editing, and against what alternatives? This paper reexamines commonly held assumptions about risk and responsibility with respect to human genome editing and argues that the precautionary approach that has so far been favored is not well justified, that the risks of heritable versus somatic genome editing should be reassessed, and that a fuller account of responsibility-scientific, social, and global-is required for the ethical governance of genome editing.

中文翻译：

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玩得安全吗？人类基因组编辑中的预防措施、风险和责任

人类生殖系基因改造长期以来一直是一个有争议的话题。直到最近，它仍然主要是一场假设性的辩论：无论原则上接受还是反对这一想法，在现实中执行不仅风险太大而且不切实际。然而，随着基因组编辑技术的出现，人类基因组的遗传修饰变得更加具体。尽管如此，迄今为止的共识仍然是人类可遗传的基因组编辑对于临床应用还不够安全。因此，2018 年底宣布两个基因组编辑婴儿出生的消息几乎被普遍谴责为早产、不负责任和危险。但是责任需要什么，由谁来承担？在评估可遗传的基因组编辑时，如何平衡风险和预防措施，反对什么选择？本文重新审视了普遍持有的关于人类基因组编辑风险和责任的假设，并认为迄今为止受到青睐的预防性方法没有充分的理由，应重新评估可遗传与体细胞基因组编辑的风险，并认为更全面的责任科学、社会和全球性的考虑是基因组编辑的伦理治理所必需的。