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Lluís Montoliu has been listening for months to "rumors" that there are already genetically modified children in China. Yesterday, this 55-year-old biologist from Barcelona had "shivers" when he saw the video in which scientist He Jiankui announced "with a messianic tone" the birth of two twin sisters with an inactivated gene to protect them from harm. 39, infection with the virus. AIDS Montoliu, a researcher at the National Biotechnology Center and founding president of the International Society for Transgenic Technologies, uses the CRISPR technique to create mice with rare diseases similar to humans, such as albinism. In his opinion, there are still too many unknown risks in applying the tool to human embryos for therapeutic purposes. Moreover, in the case of China, this is not a request for the treatment of a hereditary disease. The embryos were in good health. This is, regrets Montoliu, an alleged attempt at genetic improvement of the human species.
Question What do you think of He Jiankui's announcement?
Reply We must remain skeptical and assume that we still do not know if what they tell us has really happened. We have already eaten a lot of news from China that we had to correct or remove. More than a scientific communication, this sounds like an advertisement for some of the companies of this researcher, which has companies and therefore has an interest in this regard. Legitimate, but interests after all. This Tuesday begins a world congress of genetic publishing in Hong Kong. What better sound box. He has done a huge advertising campaign and now he will have a huge line of couples asking for this process of genetic modification.
"A Pandora's Box has been opened, it's a colossal irresponsibility"
P. Is it ethical?
R. A Pandora's box has been opened. It's a colossal irresponsibility. This is not a problem to heal. It is a genetic improvement. The next step is total eugenics. They will tell the parents, "What do you want?" The ban was opened, that's what we did not want, but it happened where we knew it would happen: in China. It must be made clear that this experience is illegal in our country and in many other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, where genetic modification of embryos in research is possible, but not their Implementation. [en una madre].
P. How will these girls be?
R. The most normal thing is that they are mosaic girls, with different genetic codes in their cells. It's absolutely irresponsible. After 20 or 30 years, they can develop an autoimmune disease in which the defenses of their body attack their own cells. And the changes in these girls will be passed on to their children. The bioethical impact transcends girls. Chinese researchers have created a new line of humans strictly speaking. The message you send is terrible. There will be more people who wish to inactivate this gene to their children. The authors crossed two red lines: a genetically modified human embryo was implanted and gestated. And, in addition, the application is genetic improvement, it is not therapeutic.
"The next step is total eugenics, they will tell parents: What do you want?"
P. Is there a way to avoid these experiences on humans?
R. This year, we launched in Paris the Association for Research and Innovation responsible for genetic publishing (ARRIGE, for its acronym in English). We joined Unesco. One of our proposals is to promote international governance, but we are aware that it is very difficult. Few treaties have a global reach, apart from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Maybe it's time to conclude an international treaty to regulate genetic publishing. What seems to have happened in China would require the availability of international legislation.
P. What could go wrong in the case of China?
R. The inactivation of a gene by genetic editing, via CRISPR, is the simplest application that is. Despite this, one of the twin sisters seems to have both copies of the gene inactivated, while the other sister has only one of the two copies inactivated, the researcher admits. It surprises me that I recognize it without any problem. This shows his inability to control the system. I would ask this researcher to tell us exactly what he did and how, so that we can evaluate the impact of the experiment.
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