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The Chinese scientist Jiankui He has caused a huge scandal in the entire scientific community after announcing this week that for the first time two genetically modified babies were born. These are twin sisters whose embryos were modified with the CRISPR-Cas9 technique and then implanted in the womb of the mother.
Although there is no scientific proof of what was announced because it was not published in any scientific journal, this researcher assures that he has done so to help them resist a possible HIV infection.
However, the scientific community is almost complete, starting with its own university, have claimed against Jiankui's performance for the use of two girls as human guinea pigs and for the enormous ethical implications of his performance.
"It's monstrous"
"Yes that's true, this experience is monstrousJulian Savulescu, director of the Practical Ethics Center at Oxford University, told Reuters.These babies are used as genetic guinea pigs"It's" premature, dangerous and irresponsible, "said Joyce Harper, a specialist in reproductive medicine at University College London, on the journal's Nature website.
"Given the current state of [esta] technology, I support a moratorium on the implantation of published embryos "Feng Zhang, pioneer of the genetic modification technique at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States), said in a statement.
For its part, Bruno Dallapiccola, geneticist and scientific director of the Hospital Bambino Gesù in Rome, ensures tempi also that "the scissors used to cut and modify the DNA are not 100% accurate.It is known that they are not cut only in the gene of interest to perform the desired correction, but also in from other parts of the genome.As a result, they can lead to functional changes in the genome, the effects of which are unknown and will only be discovered over time. "
In his opinion, what was done by the Chinese scientist it's crazy. "
Undesirable mutations that will be passed on to other generations
Precisely, many scientists claim that the CRISPR-Cas9 technique has two serious disadvantages if applied to embryos. From one side, can produce undesirable mutations in regions of the genome other than those you want to modify. On the other hand, these undesirable mutations will be transmitted to subsequent generations with unforeseeable consequences.
Bruno Dallapiccola also complains that "In virtually every law in the world, it is forbidden to induce changes that are transmissible to future generations.as in this case. We need to think very deeply and very seriously. "
This Italian scientist speaks of these ethical implications: "Who among us can claim the right to decide which genome is right?" We are all flawed at the genetic level. Each of us carries mutations in the genes of the disease. We are all healthy carriers of a few dozen disease genes. We are healthy carriers of hundreds of genetic variations that make us vulnerable to the largest and most complex diseases, many of which will occur in adult life. Thus, the utopia of being able to "create" the genetically perfect subject is neither in heaven nor on earth. "
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