Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Discovery

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Discovery: Editing the Genome - Part Two

Magazines & Reviews

Editing the Genome Part 2

14/03/2016 GMT

Editing the Genome - Part Two

BBC World Service - Discovery, Editing the Genome - Part TwoSearch BBC

Should we try to wipe out mosquitoes? With CRISPR, it may now be possible.

Farm animals immune to illness? Eradicating malaria by driving mosquitoes to extinction? Matthew Cobb explores more pros and cons in the brave new world of CRISPR gene editing.

There is a new genetic technology which promises to revolutionise agriculture and transform our influence over the natural world. Research is well underway to create pigs and chickens immune to pandemic influenza, cereals which make their own fertiliser and mosquitoes engineered to wipe out wild populations of the insects which transmit diseases to humans. These are just three examples of what we could create with CRISPR gene editing.

Should we be worried about this unprecedented power over animals and plants? The potential for good is enormous. The ethical challenges are profound. Professor Matthew Cobb of the University of Manchester explores the brave new world of CRISPR gene editing.

(Photo: Pigs at the Roslin Institute that have been gene-edited with the goal of making them resistant to African Swine Fever virus)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Discovery

Editing the Genome - Part Two

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service