Still too soon to try altering human embryo DNA
It is still too soon to try to make genetically edited babies because the science isn’t advanced enough to ensure safety, said an international panel of experts who also mapped a pathway for any countries that want to consider it.
Thursday’s report came nearly two years after a Chinese scientist shocked the world by revealing he had helped make the first gene-edited babies using a tool called CRISPR, which enables DNA changes or “edits” that can pass to future generations. He Jianqui did this to three babies when they were embryos to try to make them resistant to infection by the AIDS virus and described it in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press.
Mainstream scientists condemned his experiment as unethical, and He was sentenced to three years in prison for violating Chinese laws. The experts commission was formed in the aftermath by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the United Kingdom’s Royal Society.
The group doesn’t take a stance on whether editing embryos is ethical, just whether it is ready scientifically — and deems that it is not. A separate panel formed by the World Health Organization is to report on ethics issues later this year.
The commission does say that if a country allows this, it should be limited to cases where people have no or very poor options for having a child without the disease. Initial attempts should be for serious diseases caused by a single gene, such as muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, the blood disorder beta thalassemia and TaySachs, a neurological disease, the report said. societal perspective “needs to be answered country by country,” he said. “You’re modifying a future human. It’s a big step.”
The panel recommended that:
• Pregnancy with edited embryos should not be attempted unless it is clearly possible to make only the intended gene changes and not any unintended ones, which can’t be done now.
• Extensive public discussions should be held before any country decides to allow editing embryos, eggs or sperm. A regulatory system needs to be in place to ensure oversight and publication of results, and to prevent bias or discrimination.
• Initial uses should be limited to cases meeting four criteria: a serious disease caused by a single gene; editing is limited to changing a problem DNA sequence to one that is known to be safe in the general population; no embryos without the problem gene are edited; and parents lack a good way to have a child without the disease because of fertility problems or other issues.
• Edited embryos should be studied in the lab to ensure they are developing normally, and tests should be done to verify that all cells were altered as intended, before they are used to attempt pregnancy.
• An international scientific advisory panel should be formed to give regular updates on science advances, assess if requirements have been met for embryo editing, review results from any cases and help any countries seeking advice.
“Our group was very concerned about the potential for rogue scientists” to proceed on their own, and included advice that there needs to be a way for whistleblowers to report unethical work, said Richard Lifton, president of the Rockefeller University in New York and co-leader of the panel.