Hong Kong, November 28
The Chinese scientist who claims to have created the world’s first genetically-edited babies today said the trial had been paused, following an international outcry over the highly controversial procedure.
He Jiankui defended his work in front of a packed biomedical conference, saying he had successfully altered the DNA of twin girls born to an HIV-Positive father, an apparent medical first.
A total of eight volunteer couples — HIV-Positive fathers and HIV-Negative mothers — had signed up for the trial, with one dropping out before it was halted. He said there had been “another potential pregnancy” involving a second couple, but when questioned further agreed it had been a chemical pregnancy — a term referring to a very early miscarriage.
The conference has been upended by the gene-edited baby revelations claims, after university professor He posted a video claiming the twin girls — born a few weeks ago — had had their DNA altered to prevent them from contracting HIV. The move prompted a heated debate among the scientific community, with many raising concerns over the lack of verified data and the risks of exposing healthy embryos to gene editing.
Editing human embryos can create unintended mutations in other areas — so-called “off-target effects” — which can be carried through to birth, experts warned.
But He took to the stage to justify his work, and was bombarded with questions as he told the audience that the parents were aware of the potential dangers when they signed up. He also said the university where he works had been “unaware of the study’s conduct”. Southern University of Science and Technology, in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, had earlier distanced itself from He.
Organisers of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, which opened on Tuesday, also said they had been unaware of He’s work.
Conference moderator Robin Lovell-Badge said He’s trial was a “backward step” for the science industry, but described the babies’ birth as “momentous” nonetheless. He, who was educated at Stanford University, said the twins’ DNA was modified using CRISPR, a technique which allows scientists to remove and replace a strand with pinpoint precision.
China’s National Health Commission ordered an “immediate investigation”, while the Shenzhen hospital meant to have approved the research programme denied its involvement. — AFP
Controversial to the core
- Gene editing is a potential fix for heritable diseases but it is extremely controversial because the changes would be passed down to future generations and could eventually affect the entire gene pool. In many countries, the editing of human DNA is tightly controlled.
- This is not the first time Chinese researchers have experimented with human embryo technology. Last September, scientists at Sun Yat-sen University used an adapted version of gene-editing to correct a disease-causing mutation in human embryos.
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