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The controversy over the ethics of genetic modification was revived after a Chinese scholar announced Sunday that he had performed what he had described as the first two-generation generation process genetically modified, an illegal operation in the United States that has been greeted by boos.
Chinese researcher Hinanquai, who oversaw the operation, refused to reveal the parents of the two children, claiming that they had asked for it.
The researcher, also known as JK, studied at Rice and Stanford Universities before returning to China and opening a laboratory at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen. He also owns two gene companies in the city.
JK claimed to have modified the genes of the embryos of seven pairs during the fertility treatment, thus indicating the completion of the pregnancy and the delivery of the two children in question.
What is the point?
The researcher pointed out that the goal of the process was not to cure or prevent a genetic disease, but to "give an advantage, normally only accessible to a few people, the ability to withstand possible eventual infection by HIV ", which was a big problem in China.
JK inhibits the work of a gene called CCR5, a protein that helps HIV to enter the cell.
Men participating in the experiment were infected with the virus and not by women, the goal being not to prevent the transmission of the virus as they were taking drugs controlling the disease and could use d & # 39; Other methods to prevent transmission without genetic modification. Children do not face the same fate. "
How did the operation unfold?
By in vitro fertilization (IVF), the sperm were separated from the sperm, where the virus could disappear, then the egg was fertilized with a sperm to form the embryo, and then the modification tool genetic has been added.
When the embryos were three to five days old, the team removed some cells and examined them for changes. Sixteen of the 22 embryos were modified and 11 were used in six attempts to implant embryos in the uterus.
The researcher stated that couples can choose between modified or unmodified embryos for the purpose of causing pregnancy.
reactions
The Southern University of Science and Technology, led by the Chinese researcher, criticized what he had done, claiming that he "seriously violated ethics and academic standards" and decided to open an investigation. .
There is no independent confirmation of the Chinese researcher's claims, and his research has not been published in a scientific journal. The experts can therefore examine these allegations.
But the Associated Press said some scientists had reviewed some of the scientific material provided by the researcher and confirmed that his experiments were not enough to say that the process of genetic modification was or was not going to cause harm.
There was evidence of an "incomplete" genetic modification, they said, and the HIV virus could infect both children despite this effort.
Kiran Musonoro, an expert in genetic engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and publisher of the journal Genetics, said: "It's unreasonable … a morally indefensible experience."
Mosonoro also said that, assuming the process of adjustment works perfectly, people who do not have normal CCR5 genes are at greater risk of contracting other viruses, such as West Nile virus. , or die of the flu.
But George Church, guru of genetics at Harvard University, has defended any attempt to modify genes to fight HIV because it is "a major and growing threat to health." public. " "I think the attempt is justified," he said.
Criminalized by law
The genetic modification process implemented by the Chinese researcher is legally criminalized in the United States because of concerns about the transmission of modified genes to future generations and exposure to other genes humans.
Although US law criminalizes gene modification in oocytes, sperm and embryos because they can be inherited, they are only allowed in laboratory research. While China criminalises human cloning, the law does not criminalize genetic modification.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the Chinese researcher said, "I feel deeply responsible, not only to be the first to do it, but also to make it a model."
"JK" stressed that "the company is what will decide the next step", is to authorize or prevent this practice.
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