Advertisement
Advertisement
POLITICO
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
In this October 10, 2018, file photo, scientist He Jiankui is reflected in a glass panel as he works at a computer at a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong province. Photo: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Top scientists call for worldwide ban on human embryo gene edits after rogue Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s experiments

  • Editorial co-signed by researchers and ethicists comes four months after news of genetically altered twin babies roiled scientific community
  • Scientist claimed he made newborn girls immune to HIV infection via gene-editing technique known as CRISPR
POLITICO

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Sarah Owermohle on politico.com on March 13, 2019.

Scientists and ethicists from multiple countries called for an international moratorium on editing the genetic makeup of embryos.

Their co-signed editorial in the journal Nature comes four months after researchers around the world were shocked by reports that a scientist in China had edited the embryos of twin girls who were later born with the alterations. The groups called for an international agreement on whether and how to edit embryos and inheritable DNA.
Several US scientists signed the editorial but accompanying correspondence co-authored by NIH Director Francis Collins said the institutes “support” a global moratorium.

“This unexpected and unwelcome revelation roiled the scientific community and the general public, and crystalised the need for guiding international principles,” Collins said in a statement. He condemned the practice when the births were first announced.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui delivers a speech at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing at Hong Kong University on November 28, 2018. Photo: Sam Tsang

The Chinese doctor, He Jiankui, claimed in November that he manipulated the embryos with a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to make them immune to HIV infection.

Editing human embryo genes is banned in the US because of concerns about side effects and unknown ways that changes can be passed to future generations.

Several US companies are focused on using CRISPR technology to edit adult genes to treat rare diseases, cancers and blood conditions like sickle cell disease, but those changes would not be heritable. The therapies are still in development, and none have been approved for market. The FDA late last year approved the first in-human CRISPR trial, a joint effort from Editas and Allergan to correct a gene that causes blindness.
Post