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Shanghai. The announcement of a Chinese scientist who claims to have created the first genetically modified babies in history has highlighted the laxity of bioethics laws in China.
This country wants to become a world leader in research. Genetics and cloning, as well as the gray areas of local legislation, have paved the way for sometimes controversial research.
In 2015, Chinese scientists were the first to modify the genes of human embryos, according to the review Nature . . The same year, an animal cloning laboratory was under construction in Tianjin, with the goal of producing up to one million cows a year.
By early 2018, Chinese specialists were producing genetically identical monkeys for the first time, using the same cloning technique. used more than 20 years ago with the famous sheep Dolly the first cloned mammal.
This research can contribute to the development of drugs or treatments for diseases, but raises serious ethical questions, particularly with regard to cloning.
Investigator He Jiankui, who runs a laboratory in Shenzhen, announced on YouTube, Sunday, the birth of twins whose DNA had been modified to resist the AIDS virus
]. to defend his experience in a video in which he ensures that he wants to help families with genetic diseases. We believe that ethics is on our side. Remember Louise Brown
the first baby born of fertilization in vitro in 1978. The same fears and the same criticisms are repeated today
he estimated.
Without sanctions [19659009] According to Qiu Renzong, pioneer of bioethics issues in China, researchers are not sanctioned because they are only part of their institution. Some of these institutions do not provide for any penalty for professional misconduct.
China protects scientists a lot. If we make a small mistake, it remains there, there is no sanctions
he lamented yesterday in Hong Kong, as part of an international conference on genetics.
He Jiankui could intervene Wednesday and Thursday in the same act.
Michael Donovan, founder of Veraptus, a biotechnology company, said that less stringent laws than in other countries allowed China to take the lead in the biomedical sector.
In many sectors, if the law does not punish, can you move with caution? In this context, research on genetic modification is currently underway
he explained.
Other factors, such as demographics, also influence it.
Fang Gang, a professor of biology at New York University in Shanghai, said that it seems that in China we have no moral restrictions. to prevent us from this type of investigation
.
The National Health Commission, which has the rank of Ministry, has ordered the investigation of this case.
In a meeting with the press, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said, according to public television, that if the twins were really born, it would be illegal. .
According to the ethical principles established in 2003 for embryonic stem cell research, culture in vitro is possible, but only for 14 days after nucleus fertilization or transplant [19659002Agroupof122Chinesescientistslamentedthemadness
of the researcher. In an open letter circulating on the Internet, they noted that the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to modify human embryo genes was dangerous, unjustified and damaged the reputation and development of the biomedical community in China.
The science and technology of the South, where He Jiankui worked, stated that they regard these investigations as a serious violation of ethics and university regulations
.
The Shenzhen authorities stressed that all health organizations should form an ethics advisory committee before launching biomedical research in humans, a step that the hospital involved in. He was not respected. But this clinic, Harmonicare, denied any involvement and badured that the authorization document was probably falsified.
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