China government officials told the Xinhua News Agency that the researcher who became world famous for using CRISPR on human embryos “will be transferred to public security authorities,” and the individuals involved in the research will be “severely dealt with according to the law.”
China government officials told the Xinhua News Agency that the researcher who became world famous for using CRISPR on human embryos “will be transferred to public security authorities,” and the individuals involved in the research will be “severely dealt with according to the law.”
On Monday, November 26, He Jiankui, a researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen, announced he had used CRISPR gene editing within the context of in vitro fertilization, to modify the CCR5 gene in human embryos. He did this for seven couples, and, he went on to announce, a set of twins had been born. A later announcement indicated there was another pregnancy.
The research was widely condemned worldwide for violating moral and ethical standards. It was, basically, unnecessarily performing research on human embryos that became babies using technology that was not thoroughly understood. Not only are there concerns about off-target CRISPR edits that could cause unforeseen problems, such as cancer, but, because He performed the procedures on the embryos, those genomic changes will be passed onto the children’s children, if and when they are ready to have children of their own.
He made his announcement at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong. Shortly afterward, he left Hong Kong and went into hiding. Meanwhile, the China government, Rice University, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) promised to launch investigations. Rice University and the NIH are involved because He Jiankui was assisted by Michael Deem, who was one of He Jiankui’s graduate advisors at Rice University in Houston. Deem holds a small stake in two commercial genetics companies He Jiankui launched in China and reportedly was in China to assist with the procedures.
He has defended his action, but the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have found that the research was unnecessary and dangerous. According to more recent data, eight couples were involved in the research. The men all had under-control HIV infections. The babies were at no risk of HIV.
Of the eight couples, one woman implanted with the genetically modified embryos carried to term and gave birth to twins. Another couple is also reportedly pregnant. One couple dropped out of the program and five others did not get pregnant.
The Chinese government has indicated that implanting these types of embryos is illegal in that country and that He Jiankui forged an ethics review in order to begin his experiment. Those institutional reviews are the only paperwork Chinese scientists need to open experimental trials. In the U.S., they would also require federal permission.
China’s science ministry stated that it “resolutely opposed” the experiment and would work to “improve relevant laws and regulations and improve the scientific research ethics review system.”
Shenzhen, China-based Southern University of Science and Technology, indicated that it was firing He Jiankui. They had previously denied any knowledge of the experiment.
Regulatory authorities in Guangdong Providence, where Shenzhen is located, informed the news service they were modifying the gene-edited babies, as well as the second pregnant woman.
The news agency reported that He Jiankui acted in “the pursuit of personal fame,” and said his “behavior is a serious breach of ethics and scientific integrity, a serious violation of state regulations.”
