Scientist declaring genetically modified babies announces second pregnancy

HONG KONG – A Chinese researcher who claims to have helped create the first genetically modified baby in the world says that a second pregnancy could be in progress.

The researcher, Shenzhen's He Jiankui, revealed the possibility of a pregnancy on Wednesday by making his first public comments on his controversial work at an international conference in Hong Kong.

He claims to have altered the DNA of the twins born earlier this month to try to make them resistant to infection with the AIDS virus. The mainstream scientists have condemned the experiment, and universities and government groups are conducting research.

The second potential pregnancy is at a very early stage and requires more time to be monitored to determine if it will last, he said.

Great scientists said that there were now even more reasons to worry and more questions than answers after the conversation with Him. The conference leader described the experience as "irresponsible" and proved that the scientific community had failed to self-regulate to prevent premature efforts to change the situation. ; DNA.

Modification of DNA before or at the time of conception is highly controversial because the modifications can be inherited and can harm other genes. It is banned in some countries, including the United States, except for laboratory research.

He defended his choice of HIV rather than a deadly inherited disease as a test for gene editing, and insisted that girls be able to benefit from it.

"They need this protection because a vaccine is not available," he said.

Scientists did not buy it.

"This is a really unacceptable development," said Jennifer Doudna, a scientist at the University of California at Berkeley and one of the inventors of the tool. editing CRISPR genes that he said use. "I'm grateful that he came today, but I do not think we've heard any answers, we still have to understand the motivation behind that."

Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports AP's Health and Science Department.

"I feel more disturbed now," said David Liu of Harvard and the Broad Institute of MIT, and inventor of a variation of the gene editing tool. "This is a terrible example of not facing a promising technology that has great potential for the benefit of society. I hope it will not happen again.

There is no independent confirmation of his claim and he has not yet been published in a scientific journal where he would be controlled by experts. During the conference, he failed or refused to answer many questions, including the payment of his work, how he ensured that participants understood the risks and potential benefits, and why he had kept his job secret until the next day.

After speaking, David Baltimore, Nobel laureate of the California Institute of Technology and conference leader, said his work "would still be considered irresponsible" because it did not meet the criteria on which many scientists are concerned. were agreed several years ago to be considered.

"Personally, I do not think it was medically necessary.The choice of diseases on which we have heard today is much more urgent" than trying to prevent infection by HIV that way, said Baltimore.

The case shows "that there has been a failure of self – regulation on the part of the scientific community" and that the conference committee would meet and issue a statement on Thursday. future of the estate, said Baltimore.

Before he spoke, Dr. George Daley, Dean of Medicine at Harvard University and one of the organizers of the conference, cautioned against a brutal reaction to genetic modification to because of the experience he had lived. The fact that the first case may have been a misstep "should in no way lead us to plunge our head into the sand and not to take into account the very, very positive aspects that could flow from a more responsible, "said Daley. .

"Scientists going bad … that's a huge cost to the scientific community," Daley said.

Regulators have been quick to condemn the experience as being unethical and unscientific.

The National Health Commission has ordered local authorities in Guangdong Province to investigate the actions of He and his employer, the Chinese University of Science and Technology of the South, is also conducting an investigation.

Tuesday, Who Renzong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences criticized the decision to let him speak at the conference, claiming that the claim "should not be on our agenda" before being reviewed by independent experts. It has not been clear if it has violated the laws on reproductive medicine in China. Who says yes, but that "the problem is there is no penalty".

He called on the United Nations to hold a meeting to discuss the edition of hereditary genes to promote an international agreement on when this could go.

In the meantime, more and more American scientists have reported having contacts with He and knowing or suspecting what he is doing.

Dr. Matthew Porteus, a genetics researcher at Stanford University, where he did postdoctoral research, said he told him in February that he intended to try to modify the human gene. Porteus said that he was discouraging him and told him "that it was irresponsible, that he could risk the entire field of genetic modification by doing so cavalierly".

Dr. William Hurlbut, a Stanford ethicist, said he had "spent many hours" discussing with him over the past two years about situations in which genetic modification might be appropriate.

"I knew his beginnings, I knew where he was heading," said Hurlbut. When he saw her four or five weeks ago, he did not say that he had tried or managed a pregnancy with published embryos, but "I strongly suspected him" Hurlbut said.

"I do not agree with the idea of ​​coming out of the general consensus of the scientific community," said Hurlbut. If science is not considered sufficiently ready or secure, "it will create misunderstandings, discordance and mistrust".