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Everything went back against He Jiankui, the scientist who shocked the world three days ago by announcing the birth of two twins that he genetically altered. His colleagues at the Human Genetic Edition Congress in Hong Kong have declared the experience "deeply troubling" and "irresponsible" in their final statement. And the Chinese authorities, who had already announced the opening of an investigation, have banned tonight the geneticist and his team to continue their work. As the government has stated, this investigation violates Chinese law and is "of an extremely abominable nature".
The experience is "unacceptable," Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said in an interview broadcast by China's state-run CCTV television channel. By modifying the genes of implanted human embryos to obtain a pregnancy, he has not only "ignored the ethical principles and morality that govern the university community," said the deputy minister, but "also violated our laws and regulations shamelessly. . "
"We asked the responsible departments to suspend the scientific activities of the staff who participated in these tests," Xu added. The geneticist in disgrace had already announced Wednesday, during his appearance before the congress of Hong Kong, the paralysis of his experience "given the current situation".
A situation very unflattering, even before the end of the official investigation. The scientific community has turned its back on him. "Even if the changes (which he claims to have made, although he did not submit evidence) are verified, the procedure was irresponsible and contravened all international standards," says the resolution. Final of the Organizing Committee of the Congress of Geneticists, which ended Thursday. in Hong Kong
The resolution of this panel calls for an independent evaluation of He Jiankui's investigations, who claimed to have modified Crisp Cas9 technology by using the gene that uses the AIDS virus as a gateway to the immune system of two in vitro fertilized embryos and whose they were born. two girls who, according to the scientist, are doing well. I also admitted a second fertilization with altered genes.
No independent scientist or any of the institutions with which the geneticist is associated, nor any ethics committee has acknowledged that they have been informed of the experiments, as defined by the standards, nor do they agree with them. have put this research in contrast.
Last Monday, the surprise announcement of the birth of two genetically modified babies for the first time caused a great stir in the international scientific community. He Jiankui appeared in a video posted on the network in which he explained an experiment that, apparently, had been carried out in secret and without the appropriate ethical and clinical requirements.
On Wednesday, during his first public appearance since he had revealed that he had managed to alter the DNA of two newborn twins – Nana and Lulu – to their embryonic stage to make them resistant to Infected with the AIDS virus, he was proud of his supposed accomplishment and he protected himself against critics recognizing that this could be "the only way to cure any disease". But his speech did not convince the public.
He should have attended Thursday another panel of experts' conference, but eventually canceled his appearance "on his own", assured the Nobel Prize in Medicine David Baltimore, one of the organizers of the summit of geneticists.
Consequences
Many experts have warned of the consequences this modification may have on the humans of future generations. "By doing this, it modifies the stock of human genes, we may not see the impact of this for many generations later," said Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, chairman of the department of chemical pathology of the United States. University of China in Hong Kong. . He said that there was still no academic consensus to perform this type of test in humans.
However, the way forward to reach this agreement could begin to be shaped by recent events. The conference organizing committee noted that, despite these obvious challenges and risks, "the progress made over the past three years and the ongoing summit discussions suggest that it is time to define a rigorous and accountable path leading to at such trials ".
On the other side of the Pacific, the Presidents of the National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine, Marcia McNutt and Victor Dzau, also expressed concern that "what is 's moved to Hong Kong this week clearly shows the need for us to develop more specific standards and principles that can be endorsed by the international scientific community. "
But finding consensus among scientists from different parts of the world is not an easy task. As stated today by Sarah Chan, bioethics specialist, "we can not consider the international scientific community as a single, unified body, it is a condensed in which there is a great diversity ". For this reason, "we must be sensitive to different situations in different contexts" without forgetting that this type of proof – produced without transparency – "exceeds what is acceptable".
While waiting for these intentions to materialize, he paralyzed his experiences. The reason: the scandal generated after the announcement and the flood of criticism after the institutions and hospitals involved in the process denied their participation and launched an investigation to try to clarify the steps taken by the Chinese scientist.
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