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A head of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is calling for an end to "the implantation of published embryos", following the statement by a Chinese researcher that he had helped to manufacture the first genetically modified babies in the world using the DNA that he had modified, in order to inoculate people with HIV.
"While I appreciate the global threat posed by HIV, at this stage, the risks associated with modifying embryos to eliminate the CCR5 seem to outweigh the potential benefits, not to mention that the removing CCR5 would probably make a person much more likely to be exposed to West Nile virus. Virus, "said Feng Zhang, a member of the Broad Institute, in a statement. "Equally important, there are already common and highly effective methods of preventing HIV transmission from a parent to an unborn child."
Zhang responded to Shenzhen's He Jiankui's complaint, which had altered the embryos of seven couples during fertility treatments, resulting in pregnancy. He stated that his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to confer a characteristic trait of a few people naturally – an ability to resist a possible HIV infection , the AIDS virus.
There is no independent confirmation of his request.
"Given the current state of genome editing technology, I am in favor of a moratorium on the implantation of published embryos, which seems to be the only way to do this. "CCR5 test intent, until we first established a set of thoughtful security requirements," Zhang said in Monday 's statement.
He said "deeply concerned about the lack of transparency of this trial. All advances in medicine, gene editing or any other means, especially those that impact vulnerable populations, must be carefully and thoughtfully tested, discussed openly with patients, physicians, scientists and other members of the community, and implemented fairly. "
In addition, Zhang said that in 2015, "the international community of researchers said that it would be irresponsible to proceed to any germ line editing without" general consensus of the company on the merits of the # 39; application proposed. "(This is the consensus statement of the 2015 International Summit on the Editing of Human Genes.) I hope that this year's summit will serve as a forum for further discussions. thoroughly on the implications of this news and will provide advice on how we, as a global society, can make the most of gene editing. "
George J. Annas, director of the Center for Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights at Boston University, also criticized He's announcement.
In an email, Annas expressed skepticism about Il's claim, but said there were a number of ethical issues if the researcher actually told the truth.
According to Annas, if He's claims are accurate, academics have violated "a growing consensus between scientists and scientists that gene editing should not be used on human embryos to create a baby up to one year." what more is known about its safety (especially its off-target effects), how to obtain informed consent, and how to monitor the resulting children (and their children) for at least three generations (in fact , the Hong Kong Conference is the second international conference on the science and ethics of human genome editing, designed specifically for international consensus). "
In addition, according to Annas, he emphasized "a disease (susceptibility to HIV infection) that hardly anyone thinks should be" cured "by gene editing (because it is both preventable and treatable by current practices) ".
Annas also blamed Il for conducting research on "twins instead of a baby" and said that scientists should "never endanger two children with a unique experience" but make one and do not add others until security (and effectiveness) has been confirmed. the first."
And Annas wrote: "He announced" his experience to the press rather than in a peer-reviewed journal, thus violating basic medical and scientific ethics (and making it less likely that his experience was actually conducted as well as advertised). "He is" not qualified as a physicist to deal with patients, to touch them or to obtain their consent for a medical procedure (we do not know the doctors involved, but on the surface, they seem to have also acted unethically). "
But not all local researchers oppose his potentially revolutionary work.
Harvard University's George Church, a renowned geneticist, defended any attempt to modify the gene for HIV, which he called "a major and growing threat to public health."
"I think this is justifiable," Church said at the AP.
Meanwhile, the University of Science and Technology of the South, the Hong Kong school which is affiliated He Jiankui, confirmed in a statement Monday that the researcher was on "leave without pay" until January 2021.
And, said the statement, the university was caught unawares by He's announcement.
"The university was deeply shocked by this event and immediately took steps to reach [He] for clarity, "the statement said, adding that he was" an earlier affiliate, the biology department (hereinafter referred to as the department) convened an emergency meeting of the departmental academic committee. "
The university added that its research using altered DNA had "been conducted off campus and had not been reported to the university or department. The University and the department were not aware of the research project and its nature. "
The school said its "Academic Committee of SUSTech's Biology Department was convinced that [He’s] Using CRISPR / Cas9 to edit human embryos has seriously violated academic ethics and codes of conduct. All research conducted at SUSTech must comply with laws and regulations, as well as international academic codes of conduct and ethics. The University will call on international experts to form an independent committee to investigate the incident and disclose the results to the public. "
The Associated Press documents were used in this report. You can contact Travis Andersen at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
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