China puts an end to the activities of a young researcher in gene editing

Beijing: A Chinese scientist who feeds critics on his claim that he created the first genetically modified babies in the world came under increasing pressure as China ordered terminate his scientific activities and warned him. breaks the law. The National Health Commission of China has ordered an investigation into the experience of He Jiankui, who has been condemned by the Chinese and foreign scientific community. Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said, "The incident involving gene-modified babies, reported by the media, was a flagrant violation of the laws and regulations in our country. ".

The allegations are "shocking and unacceptable" and undermine the "fundamental morality" ethics to which the university community adheres, "he told CCTV." The Ministry of Science and Technology "s & # 39 "strongly opposes" the experience and "has already asked the organization concerned to suspend the scientific activities of competent staff," added Xu.The experiment, led by He, claims to have succeeded in altering the DNA of twins born a few weeks ago to stop them from getting HIV.

The scientist told a packed biomedical conference in Hong Kong "proud" of having successfully modified the DNA of However, the details of the experiment, which have not been independently verified, triggered an immediate reaction and he stated that the trial had been "suspended."

He was supposed to take the paro He returned to the conference on Thursday, but he disappeared from the calendar. David Baltimore, Nobel laureate and chairman of the organizing committee, told reporters that he had decided not to attend.

– "A little crazy" –
The founder of an HIV support group would be based in Beijing, said Thursday that he regretted not having introduced his families to He for the trial, according to the Hong Kong media. Bai Hua, the group leader, said that he had introduced his family's team to 50 families. "At first we did not understand what they were really doing – in fact, my personal feeling is that they are a little crazy," he told RTHK.

Bai added that he had spoken to two of the families involved. in the trial and asked if the risks and ethical issues had been fully explained to them. "The team has always insisted that the chances of success were great and that there were risks, but they were weak," he told RTHK.

In Hong Kong, the organizers of the Second International Summit on the Human Genome denounced "unexpected and deeply disturbing affirmation that human embryos were edited and implanted, and called for closer monitoring of the field at the end of the lecture, Thursday. "Even though the changes were verified, the procedure was irresponsible and did not meet international standards," they said in a statement.

"His defects include inadequate medical indication, a protocol of 39 poorly designed study, a breach of ethical requirements. standards for the protection of the well-being of research subjects and lack of transparency in the development, revision and conduct of clinical procedures ", adds the text.

– Lifelong Impact – [19659008] Eight voluntary couples – HIV-positive fathers and HIV-negative mothers – adhered to the He trial, one of them having been abandoned before being put on hold. Professor He stated that there had been "another potential pregnancy" involving a second couple, but it was unclear whether this pregnancy was still going on.