This anti-science stance is one based on fear, and that's not how society advances. Nothing should be banned from experiment and testing in controlled labs. Banning things preemptively out of fear is a sorry display of hubris. We do not know what technologies will be good or bad until we research and try them.
My perspective is an attempt to save this branch of research from annihilation in the public eye. This type of alteration of human beings is a supremely sensitive subject. Women are hardly permitted abortions in peace without bringing down political hell on them. What makes you think this research would not attract similar or worse scrutiny unless it is conducted with a degree of caution that would be excessive in any other endeavor?
We'd never have developed vaccines with that attitude, though. The Precautionary Principle sounds great in theory, but it's a recipe for permanent stasis.
This isn't the precautionary principle, which is much more extreme. This is recognizing that "move fast and break things" is not a good idea in medicine.
One major foul up with human gene editing and the technology will be banned for at least a generation. Think about that.