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China's leading health agency on Monday urged local authorities to investigate an experiment that would have created the first genetically modified twins in the world, which has raised ethical concerns and waves of criticism from around the world.
The National Health Commission said in a statement late Monday that it was paying close attention to reports on the experiment and had asked the local health authorities to release the information to the public as soon as possible.
The experiment was led by He Jiankui, badociate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUST).
He claimed that his team had successfully altered the CCR5 gene from twins born earlier this month in China with a gene technology called CRISPR, known as the "scalpel gene," reported people.cn on Monday.
The CCR5 gene is the main receptor of the human body for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The twins, named Lulu and Nana, are now HIV-resistant, according to people.cn.
However, SUST said in a statement released last Monday that he was "deeply shocked" by the He's experience and that he felt the job "seriously violated the ethic. and academic standards ".
The Ethics Committee of the Shenzhen Commission of Health and Family Planning, which is charged with reviewing and approving biological and medical research on ethical issues in the city, denied have received a request or given his approval to the He experiment, reported the Beijing News.
On Monday, 122 Chinese scientists signed a joint statement that the experiment, which has not been the subject of a strict ethical evaluation, is "crazy" and "unfair to others" researchers who respect moral principles ".
The statement was posted on zhishifenzi.com, a Chinese website focused on technology and thought.
According to a report released Monday by the Jiemian information portal, his biggest dream was to become Einstein of China. He is a "clever and crazy genius," said the report, citing his colleagues.
Faced with a flood of criticism, He Jiankui said in a statement released on Monday on zhishifenzi.com "We believe that ethics is on our side."
He said he chose the CCR5 gene as a target because it has been studied extensively by researchers and that AIDS is a widespread and harmful disease that should be prevented.
"I think parents who really love their children will not use gene editing to improve the intelligence of their babies, the color of their hair or their eyes. These should be And I know that my work may be controversial, but I believe that some families need the technology, "said Jiankui.
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Generalized doubts
Lei Hongxing, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Global Times Monday that CRISPR technology was not yet advanced enough to modify Cas9 protein accurately . "It's hard to know if any other genes have been removed," Lei said.
Such gene editing is banned in the United States because DNA changes can be pbaded on to future generations and it may harm other genes, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
While the CCR5 inhibitor has been applied in the treatment of certain diseases, experiments are still needed to determine whether CCR5 gene modification will affect people's immune systems, said Wang Yuedan, deputy director of the CCR5. School of Immunology of the Health Sciences Center of Peking University, Global Times: Monday.
Calling the experience "very careless" and "unacceptable", Wang also questioned the need to modify the gene of an undiagnosed embryo with a hereditary disease.
Chen Yuanlin, a spokesman for the media, told China Business News on Monday that the twin's mother was not HIV-positive.
Chen also refused to reveal the name of the hospital where the two babies were born, citing the family's concerns about privacy.
Liu Ying, a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Peking University, told zhishifenzi.com on Monday that although the mother was HIV-positive, there are medical treatments to prevent transmission of the virus from mother to mother. child.
"Such research is totally useless at all levels," said Liu.
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The conviction of the experiment reached a new high on Monday afternoon after a document published on WeChat showed that the experiment had been approved in March 2017 by the Women's Hospital and Shenzhen HarMoniCare children, who had been entangled in a fake information scandal in China.
Seven members of the hospital's Medical Ethics Committee have signed the form and approved the experiment, according to the widely held document, that the Global Times has not confirmed as authentic at the time of the press.
One of the seven people named in the document denied signing the document or attended a meeting regarding the experience, China Business News reported on Monday.
Shenzhen health authorities announced on Monday that they had opened an investigation into the hospital's medical ethics committee, saying it had not been set up in accordance with national regulations.
He Jiankui could not be reached for comments from the time of the press. An automatic response message received by the Global Times on Monday indicates that the scientist is now in Hong Kong for the second International Summit on the Modification of the Human Genome.
He said that he would display blood results from the twins coming from their umbilical cord during the event in Hong Kong to prove that the experiment had been successful, the people magazine reported on Monday. .cn.
His team also prepared an 18-year follow-up plan to observe both babies, the people.cn report said. He also plans to display the data collected by his team from experiments on mice, monkeys and human embryos, according to the report.
This article originally appeared on the Global Times website.
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