China tests bioethics with a claim of genetically modified babies

The statement of a Chinese scientist that he would have created the first genetically modified babies in the world has shone the spotlight on what critics consider lax regulatory controls and ethical standards behind a series of breakthroughs biomedicals making the headlines.

University professor He Jiankui said on Sunday that the DNA of twins had been altered to prevent them from contracting HIV but his statements provoked a fierce reaction from the part of the scientific community that only cast doubt on the breakthrough, but also questioned its morality.

China seeks to become a leader in the fields of genetic research and cloning, going forward even though others are hesitant about ethical issues.

The country's scientists were the first to proceed with gene editing on human embryos in 2015, with mixed results, the British Nature newspaper reported in 2017. And earlier this year, scientists Chinese have unveiled monkeys that have been cloned using the same technique. who produced Dolly the Sheep two decades ago.

While this procedure could stimulate medical research on human diseases, it also raised ethical questions about the proximity with which scientists have successfully cloned humans.

On Sunday, he, who studied at Stanford University announced in a video YouTube that he had used CRISPR a technique that allows scientists to replace one strand with extreme precision to modify the DNA of the twins.

In the United States, the tool has not been used in human trials, although doctors in China have applied it to treat cancer patients.

Qiu Renzong, former Vice President of the Ethics Committee of the Chinese Ministry of Health, accused him of having obtained a "fraudulent" evaluation by going to another hospital to visit the hospital. to be examined, instead of obtaining approval from his own university, adding that he was destroying his reputation. scientists from China.

While a community of skeptical researchers is waiting for proof of its claims, the scientist should speak at the same conference in Hong Kong this week.

He, who works in a laboratory in the city of Shenzhen located in the south of China, is also the subject of close scrutiny on the mainland. The National Health Commission ordered the opening of an investigation.

A group of 122 Chinese scientists signed a joint statement calling the experiment "crazy" and saying it was unfair to other scientists who respect the "moral basic principle".

He defended his research in another video, claiming that he was trying to help families with genetic diseases.

"We think that ethics is part of our history, come back in the 1970s with Louise Brown and the same fears and criticisms are repeated then," he said. referring to the first person to be born by in vitro fertilization. AFP