• medgremlin@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    As a widely available, cost-effective treatment? Almost certainly not. We have yet to successfully genetically modify a human being and there’s a metric ton of legal and ethical red tape to deal with before we can even try.

      • medgremlin@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        Not necessarily, but the advancement of the technology and refinement of the technique are not progressing very quickly and since it’s so far away from human application, there’s not a lot of money/investment in it.

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          there are clinical trials for gene therapy right now.

          i can see arguing that it isnt close, because it doesnt look close, but id bet it will come in decades rather than centuries.

          • medgremlin@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            Gene therapy is not the same thing as CRISPR. CRISPR is modifying the genome before the organism makes it past 1 cell.

            • umbrella@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              thats not true. crispr gene therapy was just approved by the fda for sickle cell syndrome. the methods ability to change dna on living organisms is why its a big deal in the first place.

              one can easily look this up.

              • medgremlin@midwest.social
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 month ago

                While that gene therapy does exist, it is not the same as what is being done here. The offspring of these mosquitos will have this same modified gene. The offspring of the recipients of the Sickle Cell gene therapy will not have the modified gene. We have the ability to alter a single human for their lifespan, but we do not have the ability to alter a human in such a way that their offspring will carry the same modification.