Societal Engagement with Science: the UK Citizen Jury on Human Embryo Genome Editing

Are there any circumstances under which the United Kingdom’s government should consider changing the law to allow intentional genome editing of human embryos for serious genetic conditions? 

British parliamentarians will debate this question when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act is renewed shortly.

On the plane home from Hong Kong, immediately after scientist He Jiankui announced he had delivered the first germline editing, Professor Middleton started to design the UK Citizens’ Jury on embryo editing. The aim was to provide an insight into the perspectives of patients with inherited genetic conditions on what they think about the benefits, risks and wider harms emerging from the application of embryo genome editing. After four days of in-depth deliberation, exploring the meaning of ‘serious’ inherited disease, eugenics and the practicalities of clinical application, the ‘juror’s wrote a 50 page policy report and we made a documentary film which captured their voices so that these would be available when the UK government begins discussions.

In the seminar, a 10-minute documentary about the citizens’ jury process will be shown - a film that has won 7 film festival awards and a project that has been awarded the Vice Chancellor’s award for public engagement and impact at the University of Cambridge. Professor Middleton will discuss different methods for public engagement and provide an overview of the impact of the Citizens’ Jury in the UK.

Speaker: Anna Middleton, University of Cambridge, UK

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