WORK ON GENE-EDITED BABIES ‘VIOLATED LAWS’

A Chinese official has declared that the controversial research of scientist He Jiankui — who said that he created the world’s first gene-edited babies — was a violation of Chinese law, and has called for all related work to be halted.

“The genetically edited infant incident reported by media blatantly violated China’s relevant laws and regulations,” Xu Nanping, a vice-minister for science and technology, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV Thursday evening.

He’s claims have yet to be independently verified by experts and published in a journal, though if true, would represent a monumental leap in biomedical research.