Researchers say they are behind the world's first Crispr babies

Chinese scientist He Jiankui said that he had used the Cripsr-Cas9 gene scissors to edit a two-pair DNA in the embryo station, the AP news agency reported. According to He Jiankui, the goal was to make twin girls resistant to the HIV virus, a major problem in China today.

He says he used Crispr to disable a specific gene, CCR5, which facilitates the introduction of the HIV virus into a cell. However, not having a normally functioning CCR5 gene means that you are at higher risk of getting the flu or dying of flu.

– I think it will help families and their children. If this causes unwanted side effects or damage, I will feel the same pain as themselves and it will be my own responsibility, "He Jiankui told AP.

The twins were born earlier in November. If they are really the first Crispr babies in the world, it is an important milestone, but ethically speaking, very problematic. But the news has not been confirmed by any outside expert. In addition, no scientific study has been published on the trial, which requires the intervention of other researchers.

The world of research sees a serious risk of using the gene axis on human germ cells because the changes can then inherit. Today, we do not know how other genes are affected by Crispr technology either. Previous studies have shown that there is a so-called off target effect. This means that gene scissors can cut incorrectly or affect other genes than expected. That is why technology is so heavily regulated in many parts of the world today.

"Not morally or ethically defensible"

Critics think that the trial, if it really is, is happening too soon.

"It's an unscrupulous experience on people who are neither moral nor ethically defensible," said Kiran Musunuru, rescue expert at the University of Pennsylvania, AP.

In addition, it is difficult to understand why the booster is used to prevent only HIV.

"We do not need redecorations to prevent HIV, we need to expand access to prevention and existing treatments. Editing dna in healthy embryos to reduce the risk of HIV is either necessary or appropriate, says Ainsley Newson, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Sydney, in a statement.

Ainsley Newson fears that the news will undermine all the rigorous research being done as part of the current redevelopment, which includes preventing children from being born with a life-threatening serious illness.

However, geneticist George Church of Harvard University told AP that such an attempt was justifiable because HIV posed a major and growing threat to human health.

Several researchers have taken a closer look at the material provided by researcher He Jiankui at the AP News Agency. Their assessment is that it can not be said if genetic engineering based on this really worked out as expected. Nor can they say that the method did not hurt. It is proven that this did not work out completely, says AP.