On October 22-23, an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a public meeting on “oocyte modification in assisted reproduction for the prevention of transmission of mitochondrial disease or treatment of infertility.”
That description – which is the sum total of the information the FDA has so far released about the meeting – is a mouthful. What it apparently means is that the agency will, for the first time in over a decade, be considering a technique that would constitute a form of human inheritable genetic modification.
It is the first time that the FDA has ever held a public meeting to discuss such a technique. That the agency is providing a forum for comments seems like a good sign; the FDA surely realizes there are broad issues and profound societal consequences to consider.
Read the full, original story here: FDA to Hold Public Meeting about a Form of Human Germline Modification