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A Chinese researcher said Monday that he had had an in vitro fertilization with modified genes giving rise to twins resistant to the AIDS virus, an announcement that provoked ethical criticism for an act considered "dangerous" and "irresponsible."
He Jiankui, a professor at the University of Shenzhen, in southern China, posted on YouTube a video announcing the birth, there a few weeks ago, two twins whose DNA was modified to resist the virus. AIDS. He specified that the father was HIV-positive
The researcher, trained at Stanford in the United States and head of a genome laboratory in Shenzhen, explained that he had used the Crispr-Cas9 technique, called "genetic scissors" , which can replace unwanted parts of the genome, such as a computer error.
Babies, called "Lula" and "Nana", were born from in vitro fertilization of a modified embryo before being implanted in the womb of
"Just after having injected the husband's sperm into the egg, an embryologist injected a Crispr-Cas9 protein loaded to modify a gene in order to protect the girls from a future HIV infection, "He Jiankui explained. ] The genetic modification of a DNA can be used to prevent diseases, but this practice is problematic because genetic modifications will be inherited from new generations.
MIT Technolo Gy Review recalled that "technology has an ethical responsibility"
The announcement of this medical experiment occurred on the eve of the beginning of a conference of world genome experts in Hong Kong during which the Chinese researcher had to present his results are detailed.
However, after the criticism received, his intervention in this congress of genetics is not badured.
This self-proclaimed medical experience has not been independently verified.
– A very problematic experience "-
After the announcement, many Chinese scientists and organizations criticized this experiment.
The university in which he works reports that he has stopped receiving his salary since February and considered that fertilization with modified genes represented "a violation of the ethical criteria of the academy and its standards. "
" This survey was conducted outside the framework of the and the university, said Monday the University of Science and Technology South in a statement.
A hundred Chinese scientists also issued a joint statement criticizing the experiment and calling for a change in legislation on in vitro fertilization.
In addition, international researchers have criticized the announcement made via a video on YouTube. 19659003] "The announcement of these results in a video on YouTube is a very problematic scientific practice," lamented Nicholas Evans, professor of philosophy at the University of Mbadachusetts Lowell, in the United States, who works on issues of bioethics
"This is moving away from the control processes on which many scientific advances, such as peer evaluation, are based."
Subject to be announced o u no, the topic raises "serious ethical concerns," says Sarah Chan of the University of Edinburgh, quoted by the Science Media Center
"It is irresponsible to make such claims, apparently to seek deliberately a maximum of controversy (…). "
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