Many will greet this with fear, and its misuse should be feared. However, if you can, suspend the fear for a moment, and revel in the wonder of what has been achieved.

For the first time, molecular geneticists have achieved a truly wonderful thing. They have performed the precise repair of a damaged gene, and that gene only. This was what I considered would be the ultimate triumph of Medicine.

The scientists at MIT have used two enzymes (from a bacterium) to locate and correct a single mutated DNA base pair called FAH (which causes Tyrosine build up and death) and to correct it by altering about 1/3 of the liver cells by high pressure injection. This was done in mice, not people although a very similar disease exists in people.

Sorry about the quality of the graphic. It was 'faint' and small:

The point is that the defective DNA was repaired in the living mice and the animals no longer needed additional drugs or diets.

If you wish to read more, it’s here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/revealed-scientists-edit-dna-to-correct-adult-genes-and-cure-diseases-9273555.html

Please feel free to discuss the implications (and there are many).