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SHANGHAI (BLOOMBERG) – China's condemnation of the researcher who claims to have changed the genes of twins has reached a high fever level and a senior government official said that he had broken Chinese law, even as the community World scientist was waiting for data to assess the veracity of his claims.
Dr. He Jiankui, a researcher based in Shenzhen, announced that he would present his data at an international conference on genetics in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
He shocked the world this week by saying that infants were born recently after modifying the genes in embryos to make them resistant to HIV.
His representatives did not make it available for comment and he did not answer the questions by e-mail.
The revelations of the Chinese scientist have sparked allegations of fraud, three investigations in China and calls for eminent Chinese researchers to punish him.
Harmonicare Medical Holdings, owner of the hospital whose researcher said that he had obtained approval for his work, said in a document filed Tuesday, November 27 that she believed that signatures on a request to the hospital medical ethics committee had been forged and that the committee never met to consider Dr. He's proposal.
The Shenzhen hospital has never participated in the clinical operation related to genetically modified babies and twins are not born in the establishment, the company said.
SCIENCE AND ETHICS
The Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday that the China Union of Life Sciences Societies, grouping 22 national associations, strongly opposed research that violates the spirit of science and ethics, and that the case of Dr. Hee had "severely disrupted the order of scientific research and seriously damaged China's international reputation in the field of life sciences".
Earlier, the Chinese Society of Genetics, the Chinese Society of Cell Biology and a group of 122 scientists issued separate statements condemning the actions of Dr. He and called on the Chinese government to act.
He is also under investigation by his university, the Southern University of Science and Technology and the hospital where he would have had the ethical approval of the experiment.
Both bodies said they had no knowledge of this controversial engagement.
On Tuesday afternoon, Xu Nanping, Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said at a press briefing that the Chinese government considered the project Dr. He as illegal, stating that China had banned the use of gene editing for fertility purposes in 2003.
But Chinese law does not mention the use of Crispr, the revolutionary gene editing technique used by Dr. He to alter the genetic code of twins.
In contrast, the United States and many other countries have strictly limited the use of Crispr.
The latest statement from the Chinese government, a paper published in 2017 by the Ministry of Science and Technology, only indicated that gene editing research involved high risks and required careful supervision.
In his presentation on Tuesday, Deputy Minister Xu alluded to the Chinese government's internal debates about how it should regulate burgeoning areas of research such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
China wants to be a leader in 21st century technologies, but lax regulation may lead to cases like this.
"We are aware that it is a double-edged sword." Sometimes we feel very anxious, "said Dr. Xu.
"To be honest, on this issue, we still have not completely reformed our thinking, we know there will be disadvantages, but we do not dare either – because there will be disadvantages – to avoid the technologies. or progress. "
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