Let me preface this by saying I believe in science. But it’s worth remembering that scientists are people. And science like this, while it may sound cool and promising, obviously carries massive irreversible risks, and that’s before we take the people into account. I don’t care how closely they monitor the experiments. I count these types of trials in the same vein as releasing genetically modified mosquitos into the wild to breed an infertile generation. Sounds like it could maybe work, but the risks and potential unforeseeable knock-on effects are not worth it.
There was public backlash for a reason. And while I’m not normally in favor of catering to a public that is mostly scientifically-illiterate, in some cases the gut reaction is the right one.