The Conversation - ‘Why we need a global citizen assembly on genome editing’

We are thrilled to announce that our article on 'Why we need a global citizens’ assembly on gene editing' has been published in The Conversation.

Written by Leader Professor Simon Niemeyer and Associate Professor Nicole Curat, from the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra the article outlines why we need a global citizens' assembly on genome editing.

'Developments in gene editing are often met with moral panic. Every new announcement raises outrage over the audacity of scientists “playing God”. The existence of mutant mosquitoes and designer babies are often framed as threats – evidence that science fiction has crossed over into real life...

... We envisage a process that would convene at least 100 people from all over the world, none of whom can claim expertise or a history of advocacy on this issue. After learning about the issue from a national perspective, they would gather for five days to deliberate over whether there should be a set of global principles for the regulation of genome editing technologies. The challenge of getting a representative sample of the world is not lost on us, although we are committed to ensuring a broad spread of participants representing different nationalities, ages, religions, levels of education, genders and cultures.

This would be a groundbreaking global experiment. It would be the first example of a global citizens’ assembly, and it remains to be seen whether national governments and institutions such as the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation would seriously consider its recommendations. But there are good reasons to think our global citizens’ assembly would be a meaningful undertaking...'

To read the full article in The Conversation please visit.