GM human embryos will be made in UK
Go-ahead to alter DNA in labs within months
GENETICALLY modified human embryos are to be created in a British laboratory within months.
The NHS yesterday gave the green light for scientists to alter the DNA of embryos when they are only one day old.
The approval clears the way for the Francis Crick Institute in London to modify the first embryos later this year.
Embryos have only been genetically ‘edited’ once before, in China last year, in a process that was met with widespread condemnation. One of the key objections to genetic engineering is that any changes to DNA – including mistakes – would be passed on to future generations.
Experts hope that the experimental technique will provide vital information about why some women are infertile or miscarry.
In time they hope it will improve fertility treatments, helping more couples have children without the agony of repeated failed attempts. But critics last night said that altering genes before a child is born sets the UK on a slippery slope to the creation of designer babies.
Scientists will only be allowed to use the technique for research.
But opponents say the knowledge gained from these early experiments could one day be used to make babies ‘to order’ – with parents in theory able to decide the colour of their child’s hair or eyes.
The researchers were granted approval by regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in February. But they could not start work until they received ethical approval from the NHS Health Research Authority, which was delivered yesterday.
The licence allows scientists to ‘turn off’ genes in an embryo, using a cutting- edge genetic editing technique called Crispr. They hope that blocking the genes one by one will reveal which of them are key to the development of a healthy embryo.
The information gained could help explain why so few fertilised eggs go on to become a healthy baby – and in theory, could lead to treatments to make IVF more effective. Currently, less than half of eggs live for a week after fertilisation – and only one in eight leads to a pregnancy lasting at least three months. The British programme will be the first to go through a proper regulatory system. But critics last night said the decision opens the door to a campaign of eugenics.
Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said that in future, scientists may try to alter embryos to ensure they are intelligent or attractive. ‘There’s already a sense that we want a better embryo – in this case it’s to try and avoid disease,’ she said. ‘But as
‘We don’t have the right’
soon as you say better you say something is less good and in human life we don’t have the right to make those decisions.
‘This is the inevitability of it, a whole kind of eugenic approach to human life. We’re not opposed to trying to cure disease.’
She also said it was ‘unethical’ to experiment with embryos, as these were human lives. ‘ Once the embryo comes out of the body, it has a right to life,’ she added.
But Sarah Norcross, director of Progress Educational Trust, said the programme was vital for the furthering of scientific knowledge, adding: ‘The law is very clear in the UK that this is for research only at the moment. To take it further would require a change in the law.’
Dr Kathy Niakan, who is leading the research team, said in February: ‘We believe this research could lead to improvements in fertility treatment, provide a really fundamental insight into some of the causes of miscarriage and a much deeper understanding of the earliest stages of human life.’
Once scientists know which genes are important for normal development, they could screen a woman’s embryos and implant only the best. Other options include using drugs or vitamins to boost key genes.
Finally – and most controversially – a defective gene could be tweaked and corrected using the Crispr technique. A spokesman for the Francis Crick Institute confirmed last night that Dr Niakan had received approval from the Health Research Authority’s ethics committee. She added: ‘Undertaking the research may still be some months away, since obtaining sufficient embryos will obviously take some time.’
The embryos will be donated by women who had some left over following IVF treatment. They will only be allowed to grow for a week before being destroyed.
Up to 120 embryos will be used initially, to study four genes.