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Uruguayan experts, like many others in the world, were opposed to the procedure. "Until now, this has not been scientifically recognized, but if this is true, from an ethical point of view, genetic manipulation is something out of order", a- he told El País Raul Lombardi, coordinator of the College's Bioethics Advisory Committee. Doctor from Uruguay.
"Although there may be beneficial use for the person, the procedure itself in humans should not be done because who would decide what is right or what is wrong? a series of changes would be made by better doctors or worst intentions, they would become chimeras, not human beings but lab pieces, "Lombardi said.
In the same vein, Leda Roche, a professor in the Department of Genetics of the Faculty of Medicine, said the topic "is quite complex." "Here and in most western and Christian countries, it is totally forbidden to do genetic manipulation, but China has very different laws and a very different culture," he said. And he marked his position contrary to the possibility: "Today, a thing that looks good in quotation marks is changed, but in the future you can change for others things that might not be as good, "he said.
Chinese laws
China wants to become a world leader in genetic research and cloning, and the gray areas of local law have paved the way for sometimes controversial research.
In 2015, Chinese scientists were the first to modify the genes of human embryos, according to the journal Nature.
The same year, a laboratory was built in Tianjin (North) to clone animals, with the ambition to produce up to one million cows a year.
In early 2018, Chinese researchers were able to make genetically identical monkeys for the first time, using the same cloning technique that was used more than 20 years ago with the famous sheep Dolly, the first cloned mammal.
These surveys may contribute to the development of drugs or treatments for diseases, but they raise serious ethical questions, particularly with regard to human cloning.
According to Qiu Renzong, a pioneer of bioethics issues in this Asian country, researchers are not sanctioned because they only report to their institution. Some of these institutions do not provide for any penalty for professional misconduct.
Researcher He Jiankui, who runs a laboratory in Shenzhen, southern China, said Sunday in videos released by YouTube the birth of twins whose DNA had been modified to resist the AIDS virus. However, it is not known what was done or how the procedure was performed, since the research was not published in any scientific journal, so it was not evaluated either.
"China is protecting scientists a lot, if we make a small mistake, it stays there, there are no sanctions," lamented Qiu Renzong at an international conference on genetics in Hong Kong.
"Fear."
The National Health Commission, which has the rank of ministry, nevertheless ordered the opening of an investigation.
For his part, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said, according to public television, that if the twins were really born, it would be illegal. According to the ethical principles established in 2003 for embryonic stem cell research, in vitro culture is possible, but only for 14 days after fertilization or nucleus transplantation.
A group of 122 Chinese scientists lamented the "madness" of the researcher. The Southern University of Science and Technology, where He Jiankui was working, said the investigations were "a serious violation of ethics and academic regulation."
The Shenzhen laboratory authorities emphasized that all health organizations should set up an ethics advisory committee before starting biomedical research on humans. A step that Harmonicare hospital, involved in the He experiment, did not respect.
However, the medical institution denied any involvement in the case and assured that the document authorizing the experiment was probably falsified.
"We have always opposed the development of genetic experiments violating ethics and morals," said the hospital in a statement.
Yesterday, He Jiankui again defended his experience in a video in which he says he wants to help families with genetic diseases.
"We think that ethics is on our side, remember Louise Brown," the first baby born of in vitro fertilization in 1978. "The same fears and the same criticisms are repeated today," he declared.
"You can not play God," said an expert
José Alcamí, Spanish scientist, Institute of Health Carlos III, said that "you can not play to be god in this way", referring to the announcement of the Chinese scientist who claimed to have succeeded in genetically altering two babies in the Asian country.
"This subject – referring to the Chinese researcher He Jiankui – is a criminal," he told Efe Alcamí, who said the announcement could do "a lot of harm to science".
"This will generate a kind of warning against scientists who are working well with this wonderful technique," he added.
For Alcamí, the CRISPR method – used for the supposed modification of DNA – is fascinating and the people who work with it know that it is possible to edit the genome and modify cells in culture or even mice, but always with the corresponding permissions. each research project must comply. "
But it is clear that these changes may introduce mutations outside the specific area, "so the system is not validated for use with humans," explained the expert, adding, "the girls have mutations introduced in other genes that we do not see now but that could pose them problem in the future, "said the expert. According to Alcami, the technique "always has something unpredictable".
The Chinese team has based its experiments on the deactivation of the CCR5 gene, which HIV uses as a gateway for the immune system, but, according to the Spanish expert, the deactivation of this gene would also have consequences, since it would facilitate other infections. by viruses such as West Nile Fever.
"Everything about the use of this technique is already highly controlled by ethics committees and regulated by the law of biomedical research and must be respected," he said. (EFE)
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