The roundtable will be organized on 12 September 2018, from 11am to 1pm at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. It is aimed to raise awareness about ethical issues of applying gene editing to human, animal and plants. The round table will be moderated by Hervé Chneiweiss, Chairperson of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), a member of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC).

UNESCO organizes a roundtable on “ethical implications of gene editing” in order to raise awareness about the latest developments and related ethical challenges related to gene editing. The purposes of the roundtable are to bring together eminent experts in the field of science, law, medicine, biotechnology, ethics, philosophy and sociology, entrepreneurs, concerned international organizations, as well as the general public to discuss these issues, leading to potential areas of cooperation at the international level.

This roundtable aims to firstly give an overview of recent developments in gene editing, especially the CRISPR-Cas9 technique. The roundtable will also highlight current and potential areas of research and application using these recent techniques that will impact humans, animals, plants and the environment. The discussion of this first roundtable will also focus on a few areas related to human medical therapies, and related ethical issues such as access and equity, intellectual property rights, etc.

Several eminent experts on the subject are invited as speakers. Wide participation of Permanent Delegations to UNESCO, IBC and COMEST members, IGBC Member States, concerned international organizations, and the general public is expected. The round table will be accessible through livecasting to reach out broader audiences as well.

The round table is open to public and will be accessible through live webcasting as well.