Investigation launched into 'monstrous' claims scientist has genetically edited humans
A Chinese university has launched an investigation into claims that one of its scientists genetically edited human babies, an experiment branded ‘monstrous’ by British academics who called for an immediate global ban.
In a YouTube video posted on Monday He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, said he had altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatment, which had led to the birth of twins earlier this month.
He said his goal was to give the babies a natural ability to resist HIV.
But the university said that He had been on unpaid leave since February and warned the research - which has not been verified - was a ‘serious violation of academic ethics and norms.’
A joint statement from a group of 100 scientists in China criticised the project saying it was ‘a great blow’ to the country’s reputation, while researchers in Britain strongly condemned the announcement and one of the inventors of the gene editing technology called for an immediate worldwide ban.
Professor Julian Savulescu, an expert in medical ethics from Oxford University, said that in most other countries he would be facing jail.
“If true, this experiment is monstrous,” he said. “These healthy babies are being used as genetic guinea pigs. This is genetic Russian Roulette.
“It exposes healthy normal children to risks of gene editing for no real necessary benefit and contravenes decades on ethical consensus and guidelines on the protection of human participants in research. In many other places in the world, this would be illegal punishable by imprisonment.”
Dr Sarah Chan of the University of Edinburgh, also described the gene editing as ‘irresponsible, unethical and designed to provoke maximum shock value.’
“Playing with children's health and families' hopes in order to use them as a means for a cheap publicity stunt is nothing short of despicable.”
In five videos posted on Monday, He said he had used the gene-editing technology known as Crispr to rewrite the DNA of twin girls and claimed the experiment had "worked safely as intended" saying the girls were "as healthy as any other babies.’
In the videos, the scientist defended his work, saying in one: "I understand my work will be controversial, but I believe families need this technology. And I’m willing to take the criticism for them."
Despite providing no evidence or documentation to back up the claims, He said he planned to share data about the trial at a scientific forum this week in Hong Kong and promised his results would be submitted for peer review and published.
However Feng Zhang, one of the inventors of Crispr, called for a global moratorium saying he was ‘deeply concerned’ by the lack of transparency.
The issue of genetic editing is deeply controversial. Scientists in Britain and the US have experimented with genetic editing in human embryos but it is currently illegal to implant them.
Last September scientists at Sun Yat-sen University used an adapted version of gene-editing to correct a disease-causing mutation in human embryos but they were destroyed after just a few weeks of fertilisation.
Dr David King, Director of Human Genetics Alert, said: “If these claims are true, the world has changed – it’s a day that I and many others have dreaded.
“But it underscores the need for an immediate global ban on the cloning and genetic engineering of human beings.”
