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A Chinese scientist He Jiankui said on Monday that he had undergone in vitro fertilization with modified genes that gave birth to HIV-resistant twins, an announcement that led to his suspension from the university where he was working ethically critical for an act considered "dangerous" and "irresponsible".
The researcher, trained at Stanford in the United States and heading a genome laboratory in Shenzhen, explained that he had used the technique Crispr-Cas9 called "genetic scissors", which allows to remove and replace unwanted parts of the genome, such as the correction of a computer failure.
Babies, called "Lula" and "Nana" are born from in vitro fertilization of a modified embryo before implantation into the maternal uterus.
The genetic modification of a DNA can be used to prevent diseases, but this practice is problematic The new generations will inherit genetic modifications.
The University of Southern Science and Technology (SUST) of the University of Shenzhen has already announced its suspension from He Jiankui and that will consider whether his experience was contrary to ethical and academic regulations, as reported by MIT Technology Review .
The University reported that he had stopped receiving his salary since February and had considered fertilization with modified genes that represented "a violation of the ethical criteria of the academy and its standards. ".
The announcement of this medical experiment took place on the eve of the beginning of a world genome experts conference in Hong Kong, on the occasion of which the Chinese researcher has present results in detail.
However, after the criticism received, his intervention in this congress of genetics is not badured.
Self-proclaimed medical experience has not been independently verified. The Chinese team did not publish its results in a scientific journal.
A "very problematic" experiment
As a result of the announcement, many Chinese scientists and organizations criticized this experience. A hundred of their Chinese colleagues issued a joint statement criticizing the experience and calling for a change in legislation on in vitro fertilization.
In addition, international researchers have criticized the announcement made through a video broadcast on YouTube [19659003] "Announcing 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, United States, who works on bioethics issues.
the control processes upon which many scientific advances, such as peer evaluation, are based, "he added, interviewed by AFP .
What is it? whether advertised or not, the subject raises "strong concerns about ethics," says Sarah Chan, of the University of Edinburgh cited by the Science Media Center.
"In making such badertions, it seems that deliberately seeking maximum controversy (…) is irresponsible, "he added.
He Jiankui did not immediately answer the questions of AFP .
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