Genetic editing
abnormalities. HIV leads to the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), a major public health concern responsible for the deaths of 940,000 people across the world in 2017. An estimated 36.9 million people were living with HIV in 2017, according to the World Health Organization.
“Discrimination in many developing countries makes the virus worse. Employers fire people like [the babies’ father], doctors deny medical care and even forcibly sterilise women. [The parents] couldn’t bear to bring a child into this world of fear,” said Jiankui in a video message on Youtube.
Usually, mothers and newborns are given anti-retroviral therapy to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child.
“He revealed it on Monday in Hong Kong to one of the organisers of an international conference on gene editing set to begin on Tuesday,” the AP report said.
If the claims are proved to be true, it will deepen the debate on genetic modification.
“The birth of the first genetically tailored humans would be a stunning medical achievement, for both Jiankui and China. But it will prove controversial, too. Where some see a new form of medicine that eliminates genetic disease, others see a slippery slope to enhancements, designer babies, and a new form of eugenics,” the MIT report said.
According to Debojyoti Chakraborty, senior scientist at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, the technology may not be reliable.
“The CRISPR Cas9 that is used to edit the gene is not 100% accurate, meaning sometimes there is off target editing that can result in unwanted traits,” he said.
“It is very much possible that people can use this technology to select traits in their babies rather than use it for therapeutic pur- poses. This will mean that people who have the means will be able to have children with particular traits, something like modern eugenics,” Dr Chakraborty said.
Also, the fear of passing on unwanted traits to future generations has had the international scientific community put a moratorium on germline editing, or editing of genes that can be passed on across generations.
A large group of Chinese scientists, too, agreed about the risks.
A group of 122 leading scientists from China condemned “gene editing” in a statement on Weibo (China’s version of Twitter), where they questioned the ethics and the potential pitfalls of tinkering with human genes.
“Direct human experimentation can only be described as madness. The accuracy of the CRISPR gene editing technology and the off target effects it brings are very controversial within the scientific community. There is a huge risk in any attempt to directly perform human embryo transformation and to produce a baby before rigorous further testing,” the scientists said.
It is rare for Chinese scientists to openly criticise work of peers.