The black-footed ferret is a very interesting situation that I find very interesting. Using CRISPR technology to diversify the gene pool could be very important to the survival of the species. This is something good, I think. It gives us the opportunity to fix some of the problems that we as humans have created. If we are able to save species on the brink of extinction it could be a very important stepping stone for humanity towards helping the planet and reversing some of the damage we have created. I also think that it creates some issues in that we may cherry pick qualities in the animals, and in rescuing them change them to the point they could not even be called by their genus names any longer.
I certainly think that genetic editing should be done on humans. When we first think about genetic editing on humans, we think of some blade-runner style future where humans are heavily altered to be physically perfect, or much more advanced than naturally possible. It is certainly a slippery slope to this possibility, but i think that the ways we could use CRISPR technology to completely eradicate many diseases outweighs this future. I certainly think that some millionaire somewhere will want to pay a laboratory an insane amount of money to change them, but I don’t think that is enough of a risk for us to say that we shouldn’t get rid of cancer.