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A Chinese researcher says that he helped create the world's first genetically modified babies. If this is true, many experts say that it is a dangerous leap in science and ethics.
He Jiankui, from the University of Science and Technology of the South, says he used a powerful gene editing tool to modify the DNA of the twins that were born this month.
He claims to have used this tool to give their embryos the ability to withstand possible future infection with the AIDS virus – a rare genetic trait that some humans actually possess.
"I feel like a strong responsibility that it's not just about making a first, but also making it an example: how to do such things, consider the morality of society and its impact on the public, "he said The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.
His work has not yet been independently confirmed or reviewed by other scientists, but if true, they are crossing a new frontier between medicine and ethics.
In the United States, gene editing is prohibited because DNA modifications can be pbaded on to future generations and may harm other genes.
Most scientists think that it is too dangerous, and some have called the Chinese report of human experimentation.
Dr. Kiran Musunuru, of the University of Pennsylvania, has described it as "unacceptable … an experiment on human beings that is not morally or ethically defensible".
Musunuru is an expert in gene editing and editor of a genetics journal. "We still have a lot of work to do to prove and establish that the procedure is really safe," Musunuru said. "I would say that no baby should be born at the present time, after using this technology. It's just too early and too early."
Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, said: "We are dealing with instructions for using a human being – it is a big problem."
Some fear that the procedure will be used to rewrite the DNA plan of future babies, giving them some desired traits, creating what some have called "designer babies."
The man who claims to have accomplished says that it is too late to stop him and that he had not done so, someone who d & rsquo; Other would have done.
Until now, scientists have agreed to use only the editing of genes on living people in a non-reproductive way, for example using his own stem cells.
Scientists in ethics agreed that it was best to avoid genetic changes in oocytes and sperm and in embryos because in any case, genetic changes can be pbaded on to future generations and the possibilities unforeseen consequences are too numerous.
There is a relatively new genetic editing process, called CRISPR, which is more efficient and less expensive than anything we have seen before, which means that more scientists can do it. The scientist who developed CRISPR condemns this issue of embryos, calls for an investigation and reiterates the moratorium on the editing of genes in embryos.
For the Chinese twins allegedly created by this process, it is already badumed that, although the procedure may have reduced their risk of contracting HIV from a parent, it increases the chances of contracting West Nile virus. In addition, there are already effective ways to prevent HIV transmission without resorting to gene editing.
Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of Americans United for Life, a leading advocacy organization for life, released the following statement regarding CRISPR for the genetic modification of babies and Jiankui's research.
"Gene editing as part of the CRISPR process suggests huge opportunities for ethical and therapeutic medical interventions beneficial to humanity, but Chinese scientist He Jiankui admits he is moving in this direction, is human experimentation, pure and simple. totalitarian regimes have hired it, and the international community does not tolerate it today, "Foster said in a press release.
"At a time when medical experimentation on animals is causing more and more concern, it is unacceptable that we abandon our ethical principles in the context of regressive experimentation on human subjects", says the press release.
"Although CRISPR itself is still largely unregulated as a specific technique, the basic principles of medicine and research with regard to the rights of human subjects clearly indicate that what He Jiankui and D & # 39; others are trying to do with this type of research is unethical and just dangerous.This is true not only for the subjects of this human experiment, but also for any human being who might subsequently get hereditary genetic modifications with totally unpredictable implications, "the press release continues.
"The fear and uncertainty that these unpublished, unverifiable, and unreviewed claims already raise seem to make the CRISPR research work ethically and legitimately all the more difficult," the press release concludes.
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