Researcher: "Encrypted Babies" Abroad

According to De Standaard, a twin girl would have been born in China, to whom "very favorable" genes would have been provided in the test tube.

The intervention, in which a gene capable of preventing infection with the AIDS virus has been added, was carried out part of the IVF procedure, according to senior researcher He Jiankui of the I & 39, South University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen

There is no independent confirmation of its request yet. The work of the principal investigator has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

While it is true that the first person "genetically improved" was born, it is a scientific and ethical milestone, according to the Belgian newspaper

. Most countries are prohibited from implanting genetically modified human embryos in women and to be born. Technology is still too experimental for this

Researchers around the world have called for restraint

The Chinese researcher has now introduced a genetic variation that offers better resistance to HIV infection [19659008]. ] The Dutch Ethics Professor, Professor Guido de Wert of the University of Maastricht, says it is "high time" to start a new international discussion on the picketing posts at the University of Maastricht. adjustment of the human genetic material.

"Existing fundamental objections as an adaptation of DNA" against nature "and" against human dignity ", I do not share them If it could prevent serious diseases in children So, what are we doing and what are we not doing? "

The unconfirmed claim of Chinese researcher He Jiankui that he managed to genetically protect twins from possible future infection with AIDS brings him to this call. De Wert is Professor of Ethics in Reproductive Medicine and Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine in Maastricht

. Authentic or fake?

"The first question is actually," says Guido de Wert, currently in Hong Kong for an international conference on gene editing, "if this claim is genuine and not false, and therefore a way to" 39 – attracting attention – it will become clear today, but I still find it too early Look, there is an international agreement on the prevention of very serious congenital disorders by genetic adjustment. For example, diseases such as Duchenne muscular disease and Huntington's disease in which nerve cells die in the brain and the patient may have severe motor symptoms, mental decline and psychiatric problems. avoidable and even curative.These twins can protect themselves by practicing safe sex later.No modification of the DNA is necessary for that. "[1965] 9002] The Chinese researcher does not mean where the parents of the girls live or when the babies are born.