Scientists back temporary global ban on gene-edited babies

NEW YORK (AP) — An international group of scientists and ethicists called for a temporary global ban on making babies with edited genes.

It’s the latest reaction to last November’s announcement that gene-edited twins had been born in China, which was widely criticized.

Mainstream scientists generally oppose making babies with altered DNA now, citing safety and ethical issues that must be addressed first. Such genetic changes may be passed to future generations, unlike gene editing done in parts of the body not involved in reproduction.

So news last year that Chinese scientist He Jiankui claimed to have edited DNA of embryos provoked widespread condemnation.

Some scientists had called for a moratorium before the latest proposal, which carries no legal authority. It came from 18 researchers from seven countries who published a commentary in the journal Nature. They included prominent gene-editing experts Feng Zhang and David Liu of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They receive money from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports The Associated Press Health & Science Department.

The researchers want a temporary ban on research designed to produce a baby from sperm, eggs or embryos that bear altered DNA. Roughly 30 nations already prohibit making babies from such “germline” gene editing, the authors said. It’s essentially banned in the U.S.

This “will place major speed bumps in front of the most adventurous plans to re-engineer the human species,” they wrote. “But the risks of the alternative ... are much worse.”

The moratorium would allow time for discussion of technical, scientific, societal and ethical issues that must be considered, they said.

Among the proposals: Individual nations should pledge to block such research for a specific period, perhaps five years. After that, each country could decide on its own about what to allow, but only after taking steps like providing public notice, joining international discussions about the pros and cons, and determining whether its citizens support proceeding with such gene editing. The proposal does not cover gene-editing experiments that don’t involve trying to establish a pregnancy.

In a letter to the journal, Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, said he supported the moratorium idea. HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers heard public testimony during an all-day hearing Saturday on two bills with different visions for continuing the state’s Medicaid expansion program that insures nearly one out of every 10 residents, while several Republican lawmakers opposed both bills.

A bill by Democratic Rep. Mary Caferro seeks to make permanent the program much as it has been since it began in 2016, including charging premiums. The health insurance program serves about 96,000 low-income Montana residents and will end in June if lawmakers do not reach an agreement.

Her bill would increase funding for the state’s voluntary workforce training program that officials say has been so successful that other states are considering emulating it.

Individuals, medical providers, health insurance companies, tribes and advocates for veterans and the homeless traveled from all over the state to tell the House Health and Human Services Committee that Montana’s Medicaid expansion program has saved lives and money with early detection of illnesses and management of chronic diseases or helped address mental illnesses or addictions, allowing people to return to work.

Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock supports the existing program, saying businesses all over the state have employees covered under Medicaid expansion while the program cut hospitals’ $400 million in uncompensated care in half. Research by the University of Montana indicates the program supports about 5,000 jobs and $280 million in personal income each year.

“I hope everybody else can see the value in our investment,” Caferro said, noting she and fellow lawmakers also receive taxpayer subsidized health insurance.

Afternoon testimony turned to a bill by Republican Rep. Ed Buttrey that proposes requiring 20 hours of “community engagement activities” each week for most able-bodied adults, expands an asset test and includes an agreement with Hutterite colonies to pay the state’s cost of their members’ coverages.