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Chinese authorities say world's first gene-edited babies were illegal
Authorities in China say experiments which led to the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies broke the country's laws, state-run Xinhua news reported Monday. In November, Chinese scientist He Jiankui sparked international outrage when he announced that twin girls -- Lulu and Nana -- had been born with modified DNA to make them resistant to HIV. He later revealed a second woman was pregnant as a result of the research.
[...] On Monday, investigators from Guangdong Province Health Commission said that "the case has been initially identified as an explicitly state-banned human embryo-editing activity for reproductive purposes conducted by He Jiankui," Xinhua reported. The commission added that the scientist has conducted the work "In pursuit of personal fame and fortune, with self-raised funds and deliberate evasion of supervision and private recruitment of related personnel." The authorities also believe He forged both ethical review documents and blood tests to circumvent a ban on assisted reproduction for HIV-positive patients, state media reported.
[...] Authorities in China said He and any other people or institutions involved will be "dealt with seriously according to the law, and if suspected of crimes, they will be handed over to the public security bureau," according to Xinhua. "For the born babies and pregnant volunteers, Guangdong Province will work with relevant parties to perform medical observation and follow-up visits under the guidance of relevant state departments," Xinhua said, adding that born babies and pregnant volunteers will be monitored and followed-up with under the guidance of relevant state departments.
Where's the paper?
Also at TechCrunch and Newsweek.
Previously: Chinese Scientist Claims to Have Created the First Genome-Edited Babies (Twins)
Furor Over Genome-Edited Babies Claim Continues (Updated)
Chinese Gene-Editing Scientist's Project Rejected for WHO Database (Plus: He Jiankui is Missing)
Chinese Scientist Who Allegedly Created the First Genome-Edited Babies is Reportedly Being Detained
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:05AM (2 children)
He Jiankui didn't perform a particularly valuable experiment. But the future is clear. It includes parents, or even lone individuals, designing the genomes of their customized children. And it won't be stopped.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:19AM (1 child)
It should be self limiting as the children will either not have the desired qualities or will also have strange rare diseases.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 22 2019, @01:52AM
CRISPR hasn't even been around (read: known to humans) for 20 years. Other techniques [fool.com] could replace it. He Jiankui wasn't even using the most state-of-the-art CRISPR techniques. Problems with accuracy and off-target mutations will eventually be a thing of the past. But even if they weren't, you could just edit many embryos until you get it right. Or you could create synthetic embryos with synthesized DNA, i.e. going from digital genetic code to a complete embryo that could be raised in an artificial womb. Desired qualities will become easier to manage as we learn more about the genome and start throwing machine learning and more advanced computers at the problem. We should reach a point where you input genetic code, and a computer shows you what the result would look like.
Check back in 10 years and see what the field looks like. And while it will be used by the rich first, I expect it will fall in cost until you could do it for a few thousand bucks (less if you already have the right equipment).
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