Genetically modified twins: China tests bioethics



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& # 39; head transplant & # 39;

Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero sparked controversy last year claiming to have performed the world's first head transplant on a corpse in a Chinese hospital, reported the then state-run Global Times. that other scientists have described his remarks as disproportionate.

Sunday, himself, trained at Stanford University, announced in a YouTube video that he had used CRISPR, a technique that allows scientists to remove and replace a strand with extreme precision for change the DNA of the twins.

In the United States, the tool has not been used in human trials, although Chinese doctors have applied it to treating cancer patients.

Qiu Renzong, former vice president of the ethics committee of the Chinese Ministry of Health, accused him of having obtained a "fraudulent" evaluation by visiting another hospital instead of the other. to be approved by his own university, adding that it was destroying the reputation of Chinese scientists. .

According to Qiu, the lack of regulation means that scientists are often not subject to sanctions because they are only required to respect the rules of their institutions, which can not provide for penalties for misconduct.

"People say the ministry is toothless and can not bite people, so we try to give teeth to the ministry head so that they can bite people when people break the rules," he said. he told the press at a conference on gene editing in Hong Kong. Kong.

"The mainland is very protective of scientists, if you make a small mistake, it is the end of it, there is no punishment.I suggest that they should be punished. ", he added.

Experience & # 39; Crazy & # 39;

While a community of skeptical researchers is waiting for proof of its claims, the scientist is expected to speak at the same conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday and Thursday.

He, who works in a laboratory in Shenzhen city, in southern China, is also under scrutiny on the mainland. The National Health Commission has ordered the opening of an investigation into the case.

A group of 122 Chinese scientists signed a joint statement calling the experiment "crazy" and saying it was unfair to other scientists who respect the "moral basic principle".

The South University of Science and Technology where he works said that he had been on leave without pay since February and that his research was "a serious violation of ethics and academic standards" .

A notice from the Shenzhen Medical Ethics Authority stated that all medical organizations should set up an ethics review board before undertaking biomedical research on humans, and that the committee should The ethics of the relevant hospital had not completed its registration as planned.

He defended his research in another video, claiming that he was trying to help families with genetic diseases.

"We think that ethics is part of our story, come back in the 1970s with Louise Brown, the same fears and criticisms are repeated now," he said, referring to the first person to be born by in vitro fertilization.

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