A biomedical duel seems to be building Ng Han Guan/AFP/Getty Images

This week it emerged that the first human test of the controversial gene-editing technique CRISPR had taken place at West China Hospital in Chengdu, where oncologists used it to treat a man with an aggressive lung cancer.

Similar trials are expected to start in early 2017 in the US, sparking speculation that the two countries are embarking on a “Sputnik 2.0”-style space race for genetic manipulation. But is this a responsible way to frame the development of a technology that is so fraught with possible risk?

The …