Abstract

The chapter explores the matter of a sufficiently cautious boundary and where that could be drawn based on the three distinctions from the second chapter and the various ethical considerations discussed throughout the book. It is argued that a sufficiently precautionary approach would need to take all three dimensions of risk into account: risk of harm, epistemic risk, and risk of making irreparable moral mistakes. Until these risks have been sufficiently addressed, human germline editing should be treated with great caution. In conclusion, the germline could thus, for now, be regarded as a kind of locum tenens moral principle.