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The Chinese scientist He Jian Kui today defended the l & # 39; efficiency of his experience with which he claims to have created the first genetically modified babies the world to be resistant to certain diseases like the HIV.
"The to study has yielded effective results and has been delivered for review by the scientific community, "said He during an intervention at the second conference Edition of the human genome at the University of Hong Kong.
In his speech, he – who admitted that his experience had not been approved by any official institution – said that Twins supposedly genetically modified, Lulu and Nana, "they were born healthy and happy", thanks to in vitro fertilization with genetic modification technology "which will prevent them from getting infected by HIV"
I have justified the use of genetic editing technique CRISPR / Cas9 and stressed that the experiment was not intended to eliminate genetic diseases"but" to give girls the natural ability to withstand a possible future infection of the HIV"
"These people need help and we have technology," he said, noting that parents had been informed about the risks of the experiment and had shown their consent.
"Although there has been progress in therapies with the HIV, new infections they still pose a problem for many countries, especially the least developed, "he added.
From your interest: Genetic modifications in humans, milestones and precedents
He noted that he had experimented with seven couples, one of whom was infected with the virus. HIVand affirmed that "there are more pregnancies possible" among them.
In addition, the scientist thanked the University of Science and Technology of the south of Shenzhen City with which he worked, "although they do not know" what he was doing.
Last Monday, the university announced that it was going investigate to the scientist to determine if his experimented violated the laws or their regulations.
The university said that she felt "deeply shocked by this affair," which she described as a "serious violation of ethics and academic standards."
That same day, more than 120 academics from around the world Chinese scientific community noted in a statement published in Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, that "any attempt" to change the human embryos by genetic modifications, he is "crazy" and that giving birth to these babies carries "high risk".
At the global level, the magazine Nature He also joined today's debate and, in an article, claims that this announcement caused a "scandal" among the international scientific community and that, if true, "would represent significant progress in modification of the human genome"
Source: EFE
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