Recruiter for gene project says he felt ‘deceived’ about it
Bai Hua, head of a nongovernmental HIV/AIDS advocacy organization called Baihualin, said he “felt deceived” after hearing news of the world’s first gene-edited babies whose DNA was altered in an attempt to make them immune to human immunodeficiency virus.
He Jiankui, a biological researcher, announced in a video posted on Monday that twin girls, Lulu and Nana, were born healthy a few weeks ago. They were conceived via in vitro fertilization, after which genetic editing technology was applied to the fertilized cell to prevent them from being infected with HIV.
He said his team had tried to alter embryos for seven couples recruited through Baihualin. One pregnancy resulted, The Associated Press reported on Monday.
Bai said in an interview with China Daily that he helped spread the news to recruit volunteers for He’s project, but he had made no connection with them after introducing them to He.
Bai said he learned that He had selected seven couples only from news reports and had no idea whether those couples had come from his organization’s recruitment efforts.
In April last year, He made contact with Bai and told him that he was hoping Bai could help recruit 20 volunteers who are infected with HIV for his research. About 200 people showed interest two months after Bai posted a recruitment note on various social media platforms, and he put 50 potential subjects in touch with He.
“I thought it was just a scientific research project. It was our first time in touch with this field and we are not ethics experts,” he said.
Bai was quoted by Red Star News, a mobile news portal, as saying, “Until
I thought it was just a scientific research project. It was our first time in touch with this field and we are not ethics experts.”
Bai Hua, head of the organization that recruited volunteers who eventually became parents of the claimed gene-edited babies
today, no participant in that project had explained the situation to me,” he said, adding that he “felt deceived”.
Bai told Red Star that the researcher had four standards for volunteer couples. First, the male must be HIV positive and the female HIV negative.
Second, the female must be between 20 to 30 years old (the age limit that was later expanded to 35 because of a shortage of females in the desired range).
Third, both partners must be aware of the HIV infection.
Fourth, people with infertility caused by physiological factors would be preferred.
People infected with HIV cannot be involved in conception via IVF in Chinese hospitals, as they are not approved by ethics committees, Bai said. As a result, people with HIV have gone abroad for the procedure, though not all families can afford it. They also face difficulties in bringing a baby to China.
“I felt that professor He’s research might help find a way to improve relevant policies,” he said. “At least it offered them a free chance to have babies.”