Book Review: CRISPR People – The science and ethics of editing humans Appeared in BioNews 1097 In November 2018, the Chinese scientist Dr He Jiankui announced to attendees of the second International Summit on Human Genome Editing that he had used CRISPR-based genome editing to alter the DNA of embryos before transferring them into their mother's uterus. According to Dr He, twin girls with edits to their CCR5gene – known to be implicated in HIV infection – had been born in China just one month prior to the conference. As far as the scientific community was concerned, this experiment came far too soon, both in terms of regard for the scientific safety and efficacy of what Dr He was trying to achieve, but also within the framework of bioethics. In his new book CRISPR People, Henry T Greely, professor of law at Stanford University, California, describes the science, ethics and legality of using genome editing to make genetic modifications in humans that will be inherited by their offspring, subsequently referred to as germline genome editing.