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Although vitriol and indignation are common in Western culture in 2018, when it is claimed that a researcher in China has used CRISPR technology to edit a human embryo, Bloggers, journalists and social media scientists have pushed it to another level.
Without even reading the newspaper. Because there is not any. There is no data either.
It's just a guy who claims to have done it, not once but twice. And on that basis, people indulge in tirades about how this violates ethics – well, their subjective notion of ethics, none of which has anything to do with Chinese culture.
The United States is exceptional when it comes to voluntary agreements. As I point out in my next book on mitochondria, when cytoplasmic transfer became popular in 2001 as a new method of in vitro fertilization, our Food and Drug Administration asked clinics to refrain from doing so before taking a decision regarding its safety and security. efficiency. All did. And again, although 12 families had babies quite well and the first child created using egg donation (in 1997) is now an adult and is doing well. Does this mean that no one in China has done it? Or be it scandalous if they did it?
Ethicists will be of no help in this case because they want to debate such stupid topics as abortion. after Birth, it belongs to the public to decide, so it's useless to tear clothes and teeth grinding in America on it. China could be faced with American hysteria related to gene editing, the way we conduct European panic attacks against GMOs; as intellectual immaturity. In China, 70% support genetic modification to prevent HIV, so it is a "medical necessity".
Professor Jennifer Doudna, who was invented with CRISPR / Cas-9 technology, says He Jiankui, is a bit more practical, pointing out that as long as it has not been proven that this has been done, it is a researcher who claims he can prevent HIV by disabling the CCR5 gene that encodes a protein that allows HIV to enter a cell. And if babies never get HIV, he can pretend that it worked.
Oddly enough, many of the same scientists who insisted that human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research should be unlimited, despite the same concerns expressed about human experimentation in the early 2000s, suddenly all the limits in Chinese science. When a Republican president accepted ethical concerns but allowed the federal government to fund existing lines already created, they still shouted that he was holding back science, other hyperbolic bloggers have even claimed that he "has not done it." it was prohibition he.
Before going crazy, let's see some concrete proof of what happened and whether it was a significant change or just a do-it-yourself job. Then we can continue to have a real dialogue about when and how CRISPR should be used rather than asking for blanket bans. But a group of Americans on Twitter will not be able to convince China to submit, it will only remove the United States from a leading role in the ethical debate.
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