Gene-edited baby trial paused, says Chinese scientist

Hongkong:thechinesescientist who claims to have created the world’s irst genetically-edited babies said on Wednesday the trial had been paused, following an international outcry over the highly controversial procedure.

He Jiankui defended his work in front of a packed Hong Kong biomedical conference, saying he had successfully altered the DNA of twin girls born to an Hiv-positive father, an apparent medical irst.

A total of eight volunteer couples — Hiv-positive fathers and Hiv-negative mothers — had signed up to 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.

“I must apologise this result was leaked unexpectedly,” He said of the apparent breakthrough “The clinical trial was paused due to the current situation,” he added.

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 scientiic community, with many raising concerns over the lack of veriied 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.