Chinese government orders end to controversial research on gene-edited babies
The Chinese government has ordered a team of medical researchers to cease its controversial work in helping produce the world’s first gene-edited babies, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping, says the AP, told state broadcaster CCTV that his ministry opposes the medical team’s research into producing twin girls. Xu said the government is opening an investigation, saying the medical team’s work was illegal and unacceptable.
The Chinese researcher, He Jiankui, said their team was able to alter DNA of the female twins in a way to avoid an infection from the AIDS virus. But other scientists around the world have criticized the Chinese medical researchers and are reviewing their findings.
He's experiment "crossed the line of morality and ethics adhered to by the academic community and was shocking and unacceptable," Xu said, according to the AP.
The Chinese government’s action comes the same week prominent scientists are meeting in Hong Kong for an international summit on gene editing, the ability to rewrite the code of life to try to correct or prevent diseases, the AP said.
Summit organizers on Thursday issued a strongly worded statement raising doubts and concerns about the “unexpected and deeply disturbing” claim of the Chinese medical researchers.
“We recommend an independent assessment to verify this claim and to ascertain whether the claimed DNA modifications have occurred,” read the statement. “Even if the modifications are verified, the procedure was irresponsible and failed to conform with international norms.”
“Its flaws include an inadequate medical indication, a poorly designed study protocol, a failure to meet ethical standards for protecting the welfare of research subjects, and a lack of transparency in the development, review, and conduct of the clinical procedures,” the statement concluded.
The AP reported that He was supposed to address the summit participants again on Thursday, but backed out and had left the conference. "I will remain in China, my home country, and cooperate fully with all inquiries about my work. My raw data will be made available for third party review,” said He in a statement issued by a spokesman.
In an interview with the BBC, Julian Savulescu, who is a medical ethics expert at the University of Oxford, called the experiment “monstrous”.
“Gene editing itself is experimental and is still associated with off-target mutations, capable of causing genetic problems early and later in life, including the development of cancer,” he said. “This experiment exposes healthy normal children to risks of gene editing for no real necessary benefit.”
The three-day summit ended Thursday. Among the sponsors: the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, the Royal Society of the United Kingdom and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and U.S. National Academy Sciences.
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