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Clustered Regularly Inter-Spaced Palindromic Repeats, CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA, discovered in bacteria. The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small tag which directs the enzyme where to cut. The genetic damage caused by the Crispr/Cas9 technology – known as Crispr – have been ‘seriously underestimated in the past.
The gene-editing tool causes unwanted mutations that may prove dangerous, Crispr may be used to ‘snip’ damaging genes from children before they are born, such as those that cause Huntington’s disease or blindness. It could create ‘designer babies’ by allowing parents to choose their hair colour, height or even traits such as intelligence.
 Crispr can introduce hundreds of potentially harmful mutations that standard tests may not spot, it can alter sections of DNA in cells by cutting at specific points and introducing changes at that location.
Standard genotyping tests for detecting DNA changes missed the genetic damage because they were too far away from the target site to be spotted. By editing this tag, scientists are able to target the enzyme to specific regions of DNA and make precise cuts, wherever they like.