> But the rapid advent of gene-edited animals threatens to outstrip public discussion of their risks and benefits, some scientists and bioethicists have warned.<p>I'm skeptical that an actual public discussion could ever occur. I have not met a single non-technical person who can explain what DNA is or what it does. All they know is that GMOs are different from what we had before and we're changing things that are natural, which is (quite reasonably) frightening to them.<p>I'd like to do more public outreach but the knowledge gap seems insurmountable. For example, 80% of Americans support labeling food that <i>contains DNA</i> [1]. Where do you even begin with a person like that?<p>[1] <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/01/17/over-80-percent-of-americans-support-mandatory-labels-on-foods-containing-dna/" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...</a>
I know little about this field, having only recently started reading about it with the salmon mentioned a few weeks ago, but I really hope we're on the cusp of something new and this isn't just a pipe dream that gets drowned for any number of reasons.
Humanity is unable to comprehend the long term (> 4Q of earnings in this context). Gene editing is cool, but we are 100% certain to experience some world-changing screw ups from this.