Last week, scientists announced a breakthrough in CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, a highly specific method of gene “snipping” and repair that has revolutionized the field of gene therapy. CRISPR-Cas9 holds promise for future treatments and even cures for fatal genetic diseases. Sounds great, right? It’s cool, but its potential raises sticky ethical questions.

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, working with colleagues in California and across the Pacific in China and South Korea, announced on Wednesday, August 2, that they had miraculously fixed the single mutation linked to a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, known to lead to early heart failure in 1 in 500 people.

This condition is caused by a single dominant gene mutation. That is, given a healthy parent without the mutation and an affected parent with it, there is a 50% chance their child will obtain the life-threatening mutation. Not something you want to gamble on when it comes to your future child.

Scientists were able to fix the mutation in 42 of 58 embryos by injecting both the affected sperm and the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing complex together into the healthy unfertilized egg. This process fixed the targeted mutation in 100% of the cells within the embryo without creating new mutations of its own. This, and the scientists’ 72% success rate, are important challenges to have overcome.

Though further study must be conducted based on this work, the potential and promise of gene-editing technology to cure diseases before birth and into adulthood is tremendous. But a few things have to be done first.

The procedure needs to be standardized and perfected, the editing technology must not cause other mutations or diseases further along in the development process, and healthy embryos must survive and thrive beyond three days to demonstrate successful development.

This announcement does not mean the “designer baby” revolution is upon us. Ethicists have an overarching fear that these types of specific technologies will spawn a new form of eugenics, that is, controlled breeding of desirable human traits—in this case through genetic manipulation. Picture people using these technologies (legally or not) to correct mutated genes or insert copies of them to alter the genomic outcome of their offspring. We already do it with food crops and animals. Why not humans?

Will we be surrounded by genetic super-humans within the next 50 years? Not likely. As R. Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin – Madison said, “Nobody’s going to do this for trivial reasons. Sex is cheaper and it’s more fun than in-vitro fertilization (IVF), so unless you’ve got a real need, you’re not going to use it.”

The real need Charo refers to is fatal genetic disorders that affect smaller proportions of the population. Even so, there are very few afflictions that can even be traced to a single gene mutation.

This new discovery in genetic manipulation holds a lot of promise for the future of specialized treatments through gene editing. It is something to be celebrated rather than feared because regulations are in place to ensure safe practices. Though the ethics of the gene-editing revolution should remain an essential part of the discussion, a new form of eugenics is not of immediate concern.