In this podcast episode, Professor Donrich Thaldar discusses the issue of heritable human genome editing with Dr Bonginkosi Shozi and Ms Tamanda Kamwendo.

Summary

The global discourse on heritable genome editing is dominated by Western perspectives. We argue for a broadening of this discourse, pointing out the significance of differences in culture and context between countries. These differences illustrate the need for approaches to the governance of heritable genome editing that are open to a variety of perspectives, a point we make with reference to South Africa. We warn that failing to account for culture and context in developing global governance frameworks may lead to policies that amount to ethical imperialism.

Further reading

Thaldar DW, Shozi B, Kamwendo T. Culture and context: Why the global discourse on heritable genome editing should be broadened from the South African perspective. BioLaw Journal. 2021.

See also

Thaldar DW, Townsend B, Botes M, Shozi B, Pillay S. A virtual deliberative public engagement study on heritable genome editing among South Africans: Study protocol. PLOS ONE 2021.

Townsend BA, Shozi B. Altering the human genome: mapping the genome editing regulatory system in South Africa. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal. 2021.

Townsend BA. Human genome editing: how to prevent rogue actors. BMC Medical Ethics. 2020.

Thaldar DW, Botes M, Shozi B, Townsend B, Kinderlerer J. Human germline editing: Legal-ethical guidelines for South Africa. South African Journal of Science. 2020.