Hacking the code of life : how gene editing will rewrite our futures
(Book)

Previously published in the UK and USA in 2019 by Icon Books Ltd.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Just 45 years ago, the age of gene modification was born. But GM is rapidly being supplanted by a new system called CRISPR or 'gene editing'. Scientists can now manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed unthinkable only ten years ago. We can edit wheat genes to exclude the proteins that cause gluten intolerance. We can breed mosquitoes with a 'suicide gene' that kills their offspring before they can pass on Zika or yellow fever. But is it ethical? If a person is suffering from a lethal genetic disease, is it unethical to deny them this option? And who controls the application of this technology, when it makes 'biohacking' -- perhaps of one's own genome -- a real possibility?