China has changed its genes to create five crazy monkeys. Is it ethical?

Experts in medical ethics are divided on an experiment in which Chinese scientists have cloned genetically modified monkeys to induce mental illness.

The five cloned monkey embryos had been published to suppress the BMAL1 gene, thus causing baby animals to exhibit symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia as a result of disruption of their circadian rhythms, according to a study published in National Science Journal Thursday.

Results from researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences could help develop treatments for a range of medical issues, including sleep disorders, diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, according to Chang Hung-Chun.

The study drew attention to its use of cloned animals, as well as the researchers' use of the CRISPR / Cas 9 gene editing tool.

He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who recently created the first genetically modified human babies in the world, also used the tool as part of a controversial and unauthorized experiment.

China confirms the birth of genetically modified babies and accuses scientist He Jiankui of breaking the rules

But unlike his experience, the cloned macaque study was authorized and funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Municipal Government.

Andrew Knight, professor of animal welfare and ethics at the University of Winchester in Britain, described it as "disturbing news".

"Human mental illnesses are complex and even harder to predict than purely physical diseases," he said. "The likely benefit of harming animals in this way is extremely small. However, there is no doubt that these animals will suffer – and probably in a very significant way. Primates are very intelligent and social animals. It is not ethical to deliberately harm them, especially when the chances of tangible benefit for human patients are so low. Such research is very irresponsible. "

Chinese scientists clone monkeys. Will humans be the next?

China is the only country in the world to have the technology needed to clone captive-bred primates, which are still widely used in scientific research around the world because of their neurological similarities with humans compared to humans. Other common laboratory animals such as rodents. As a result of scientific experiments, primates can experience pain and psychological distress in the same way as humans do.

However, for decades, the use of a species with similarities as remarkable as that of humans has raised ethical concerns, while significant progress has been made in the field of imaging. neural and other digital brain modeling techniques.

Great apes such as orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas are prohibited or strictly prohibited for research purposes in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and New Zealand, while Austria prohibits the use of all primates in laboratory experiments.

The United States is the world's largest user of laboratory chimpanzees for scientific research, although hundreds of people have retired in recent years after the National Institute of Health ended its biomedical research program on chimpanzees in 2015.

Chimpanzees would share about 98% of human DNA.

In Britain alone, about 3,000 monkeys such as macaques and marmosets are used annually in medical research, primarily to develop vaccines and study the nervous system and reproduction, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty towards animals.

Alan Bates, a member of the Oxford Center for Animal Ethics, said it was "particularly controversial" to conduct research in the field of mental illness.

"There are substantial differences between human cognition and that of non-human primates that make any nonhuman model of a specifically human disease," he said. "If the mental processes of the monkeys were close enough to humans to provide a valid model, it would certainly be unethical to experiment with them.

"Cloned animals are intrinsically inadequate for screening tests because they do not possess the genetic diversity transmitted by wild populations. In addition, it is difficult to see how captive animals raised in the laboratory might not have symptoms that are related to a mental illness. "

Other bioethics experts agreed that there were ethical issues related to the use of animals of the same nature as humans, and that any animal experiments should continue to be subject to strict regulations.

"I think it 's a very natural reaction to think that there' s something quite perverse and horrible to intentionally induce a disease in an animal for the purpose of l '# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # 39 "study," said David Hunter, badociate professor of medical ethics at Flinders University in Australia.

"Overall, damage to animals could be reduced by this type of research. However, is it worthwhile to instruct animals that suffer damage in this way? "

Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics at New York University, said the low success rates of cloning had an "ethical price" because of the risk of creating malformed animals. But he thought that the use of animals for disease models was ultimately justified as a replacement for human experiments.

"I think that if scientists are competent, it is ethical to create models of disease to study human diseases. You can try experimenting with drugs and editing genes to cure diseases that ethics do not allow to try first in humans, "he said. "All of this research must be done under the close supervision of animal testing committees and in full transparency."

But Terry Kaan Sheung-hung, co-director of the Center for Ethics and Medical Law at the University of Hong Kong, said he had no objection to this experience.

"Gene editing is not so different from the old gene inactivation technique, which is widely accepted in scientific circles for a long time. This new instance is a further development of the technique, "he said, adding that the technique of inactivation of the gene was commonly used in laboratory mice.

"The report indicates that scientists have been cautious in carrying out the experiment in accordance with the regulations on animal welfare, and that the results are open and subject to peer review."

The group of Chinese idols SNH48 creates digital clones built by AI

For Alexander Erler, an badistant professor at the Center for Bioethics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the results constitute a "positive development for biomedical research".

"Some animal use, however unfortunate it may be, is still inevitable if such research is to progress, and monkeys provide optimal models for the study of neurodegenerative diseases," Erler said.

"The use of cloning could actually help us reduce the total number of animals used in this type of research … and this is a goal we must respect ethically."