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Scientists and bioethics experts reacted Monday with shock, anger and alarm over the claim of a Chinese scientist that he helped create the first genetically modified baby in the world.
He Jiankui of the South China University of Science and Technology said he has modified the DNA of the binoculars born earlier this month to help them resist a possible future HIV infection. , a dubious objective on the ethical and scientific levels.
There is no independent confirmation of what he says he has done, and this has not been published in a journal where other experts could read it. He revealed it Monday in Hong Kong, where a conference on gene editing is underway, and previously in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press.
The response to the request was quick and severe.
More than 100 scientists have signed a petition calling for increased monitoring of gene editing experiments.
The university in which it is based announced that it would hire experts to conduct an investigation, claiming that the work "seriously violated ethics and academic standards".
A spokesman for Mr. He said that he was on school leave since the beginning of the year, but that it was still part of the faculty and that 's. he owned a laboratory at the university.
The authorities in Shenzhen, the city where he is, have also opened an investigation.
And Rice University, in the United States, announced that she would investigate the involvement of physics professor Michael Deem. This type of gene editing is banned in the United States, although Deem said he had worked with He on the project in China.
"No matter where it was conducted, this work described in the press releases violates scientific guidelines and is incompatible with the ethical standards of the scientific community and Rice University," he said. said the school in a statement.
concerns
Gene editing is a way of rewriting DNA, the code of life, to try to provide the missing gene needed or to disable one that is problematic. It is only recently that adults have tried to treat serious illnesses.
The modification of eggs, sperm or embryos is different because it causes permanent changes that can be pbaded on to future generations. Its risks are unknown and leading scientists have called for a moratorium on its use, except in laboratory studies, until more knowledge is gained.
They include Feng Zhang and Jennifer Doudna, inventors of a powerful new but simple tool called CRISPR-cas9 that would have been used on Chinese babies during fertility treatments at the time of their conception.
"Not only do I consider it risky, but I am also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency around the work," said Zhang, a scientist at MIT's Broad Institute, in a statement. Medical progress must be discussed openly with patients, doctors, scientists and society, he wrote.
Doudna, a scientist at the University of California at Berkeley and one of the organizers of the Hong Kong conference, said that he had met her Monday to talk to her about her work and that She was planning, along with other people, to let him speak on Wednesday at the start. planned.
"None of the reported work has been submitted to the peer review process," and the conference aims to address important issues such as: if and when the genetic modification is appropriate, a she said.
Dr. George Daley, Dean of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has expressed concern that other scientists will try to do so in the absence of regulation or prohibition.
"I would be worried if this initial report opened the doors to a broader practice," said Daley.
O. Carter Snead, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, former presidential adviser on bioethics, described the report as "deeply troubling, if true."
"As well-intentioned as it is, this intervention is dangerous, unethical and represents a new danger in the history of humanity," he wrote in an e-mail. "These children, and the children of their children, have seen their future irrevocably change without consent, ethical review or meaningful deliberation."
Concerns were expressed as to how he said he was proceeding and to the actual understanding by the participants of the risks and potential benefits before enrolling to attempt a pregnancy with published embryos. He says that he started work in 2017, but he gave notice that earlier this month on a Chinese clinical trial registry.
Secrecy issues have been compounded by the lack of evidence of his claims. He stated that the parents involved refused to be identified or interviewed and that he would not say where they lived nor where the work was done.
An independent expert even wondered if the complaint could be a hoax. Deem, Rice's scientist who said she took part in the work, called it ridiculous.
"Of course, the work has taken place," Deem said. "I met parents, I was there to get informed consent from parents."
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