The rapid development of gene-editing techniques is outpacing humankind's ability to answer fundamental questions about the ethics of altering the structure of life: DNA. In addition, the relatively low cost of such techniques — CRISPR, in particular — is making their use in agriculture and medicine inevitable. But, in the end, economics and religion may play as much a role in resolving these questions as science and ethics. The most difficult ethical questions and moral dilemmas will arise when the technology is applied to human health problems. For example, should gene editing be used to prevent malaria? The obvious answer would seem to be yes. CRISPR has been used to edit the genomes of mosquitoes in research labs, now making the elimination of some populations that carry the malaria parasite a possibility.