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14/10/2020 - S & T

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October 14, 2020

With the Chemistry Nobel prize thrusting CRISPR-Cas9 into the limelight, India needs guidelines for gene-editing research. Examine (200 Words)

Refer - The Hindu

Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.

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IAS Parliament 3 years

KEY POINTS

·       The discovery of CRISPR can be traced back to 1987. This was when a group of Japanese researchers observed an unusual homologous DNA sequence bearing direct repeats with spacing in a eubacterial gene. Several important discoveries followed.

·       In the male-dominated world of science, this year’s Nobel chemistry prize should be widely celebrated worldwide. The recognition that Charpentier and Doudna’s work has received will encourage women to take up science as a career, despite the hard struggle to balance family life and an arduous life in a scientific career.

·       Although CRISPR became a household name for its ease of use, other systems discovered before CRISPR can cleave DNA at specific sites, an example being the Zinc-finger nucleases. In this, Dana Carroll, who developed the system, is another notable exclusion from this year’s chemistry prize. It would have been an excellent choice if the Nobel committee had named Carroll alongside Charpentier and Doudna.

·       In India, there is a long way to go before realising the utility of gene editing for therapeutic applications. That said, we cannot be complacent and wait for a rogue individual or entity to try it out in humans.

Situation in India

·       In India, several rules, guidelines, and policies backed by the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989” notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, regulate genetically modified organisms.

·       The above Act and the National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving human participants, 2017, by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill implies regulation of the gene-editing process.

·       This is especially so in the usage of its language “modification, deletion or removal of parts of heritable material”. However, there is no explicit mention of the term gene editing. It is time that India came up with a specific law to ban germline editing and put out guidelines for conducting gene-editing research giving rise to modified organisms.

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