Global controversy after the announcement of the first genetically modified babies

November 26, 2018 – 19:44
A Chinese claims to have altered several embryos during fertility treatments, of which twins are already born. But there is caution in the scientific community.

A Chinese researcher claims to have helped create the first genetically modified babies, twins born this month whose DNA has been altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the original project of life.
If this is true, it would be a big step forward for science with profound ethical implications.
An American scientist said he has been involved in genetic modification work in China, banned in the United States, as DNA modifications may be pbaded on to future generations and other genes may be "deadly". be damaged.
Many scientists believe that it is too risky to try and some have denounced the fact that the Chinese report is tantamount to experimenting with human beings.

Resist future HIV infection

The researcher, He Jiankui, from Shenzhen City, said he has modified embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, and has already gotten pregnant. He stated that his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to give a few people a natural characteristic: the ability to withstand a future infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
He noted that the parents concerned refused to be identified or interviewed and that it will not reveal where they live nor where the work was done.

Science has not yet confirmed

Nobody has confirmed her claim independently, and she has not been published in a journal where she would be examined by other experts. He announced Monday his work in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on genetic publishing that will begin Tuesday, and previously during exclusive talks with The Associated Press.
"I feel a strong responsibility not only to do something for the first time, but also to give the example," he told the AP. "Society will decide what to do next" to authorize or prohibit such scientific advances.

More than 120 Chinese scientists have condemned the announcement of his colleague He Jiankui concerning the birth of two genetically modified babies in order to avoid contracting HIV, in an open letter in which they declared that they were experimenting with HIV. Man is a "madness" and involves serious potential consequences.
The text was signed by scientists from various institutions, including Tsinghua, Beijing and Fudan Universities and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"These irreversible transformations of human genetic material, which are very uncertain in science, will inevitably blend into the human genetic group," says the DPA letter.
Researchers say that "it is possible that babies born are healthy for a while, but the risks and potential harm to the human group (…) are incalculable."
They also regretted that the experiment carries a "blow to the global reputation of Chinese science" and asked the inspection authorities to act as quickly as possible and to conduct a survey on the # 39; s case.
"The Pandora's box has been opened and we could have the option to close it before the damage is irreparable," they warned.

However, a famous geneticist, George Church of Harvard University, defended the attempt at HIV gene editing, which he defined as "a growing and significant threat to public health."
"I think it's justifiable," said Church about this goal.
In recent years, scientists have discovered a relatively simple way to edit genes, the DNA strands that govern the body. The tool, named CRISPR-cas9, allows DNA operations to provide a necessary gene or disable the one that causes problems.

Jennifer Doudna

One of the discoverers of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique, American Jennifer Doudna, also criticized He's announcement.
"If they are verified, these works break with the precautions and the transparent approach to the application of the CRISPR-Cas9 global scientific community," said Doudna, professor of chemistry and molecular biology and cell at the University of California at Berkeley.

Doudna said his research has not been published or peer reviewed by the scientific community yet.
The researcher is attending the Hong Kong Summit on Human Genomics, which he plans to attend as well.
If a scientific badysis confirms this work, it will confirm "the urgent need to limit the use of genetic editing in human embryos to scenarios in which there is a clear unmet medical need and in which another therapeutic approach is not feasible, "he said.
The CRISPR-Cas9 mechanism has been known for almost three decades, and in 2003 the Spanish microbiologist Francisco Martínez Mojica discovered that microorganisms use it to defend themselves, cutting the genetic material of viruses and incorporating this material into their own DNA.
The discovery of Mojica served as a basis for Doudna and the French researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier, several years later, to artificially reproduce the system and propose in 2012 that it could be used to precisely modify the genome, including that of l & # 39; man.