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Lulu and Nana have two twins a few weeks old and are in perfect health. Nothing in them attracts attention to the naked eye, but has caused a large-scale scientific earthquake . Because they are theoretically the first human beings to be born after modifying their genes. The team of He Jiankui used the CRISPR technique to eliminate the CCR5 gene, so that girls were resistant to AIDS, cholera and smallpox.
The Chinese scientist, who works at the South Shenzhen University of Science, reported Monday to the AP agency having modified the embryo genes of the seven HIV-positive couples who agreed to undergo this particular treatment of fertility, and that twins are the product of the only pregnancy that has taken place. It was Grace, a woman whose partner, Mark, is HIV positive.
"He never thought he could have children" he said in a video posted on YouTube. If the result of this investigation is confirmed, which could take time, China will have opened the door to "superhuman" literally conceived. Because, although in this case the modification focuses on protection against diseases, the same technique could be used to determine in advance different characteristics of the baby. It sounds like science fiction, but it's not really the case anymore
Logically, it provokes an in-depth debate about the ethical limits of science. Yesterday, 120 Chinese scientists signed a declaration refusing to experiment on the man and demanding an investigation. Dr. Kiran Musunuru, of the University of Pennsylvania, said it was an experiment that "is not morally or ethically defensible". Others, such as Nicholas Evans, badociate professor at the University of Mbadachusetts Lowell, doubt that the result be what he says: "He made it public on YouTube and without to comply with the steps of the usual scientific confirmation process, problematic. "And others consider it irresponsible to endanger the lives of girls.
The Chinese scientist defends himself by baduring that Lulu and Nana" do not undergo any other genetic mutation " He sees nothing dubious in a scientific breakthrough that" offers equal opportunities to have a family in good health. "The low weight of ethical issues in China allowed the countries to make further progress in gene techniques such as CRISPR: in 2015, Chinese scientists succeeded, for the first time, in modifying the human genome, although they have never tried to flourish embryos in which they found themselves
No one doubts that, if confirmed, the experiment can be a decisive step forward for science. It will also be a legal challenge for territories where the genetic problem of human beings is prohibited, such as the United States or the European Union, especially as it is demonstrated that they can be used to prevent diseases. "Society must decide what to do from now on".
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