The Chinese biologist who altered the genes of human embryos in an ethically flawed experiment that led to the birth of twin girls reportedly immune to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was grilled by his peers and media at a seminar in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
He Jiankui, an associate professor at the Shenzhen-based Southern University of Science and Technology, apologized to his peers for the controversy as he spoke at the second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong.
He quickly moved to defend what he did with the twin girls. “I feel proud,” He told a packed auditorium at the University of Hong Kong, whose skeptical listeners included scores of reporters as well as David Baltimore, chairman of the summit’s organizing committee and the 1975 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine.
He, a PhD graduate from Rice University in Houston who also conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford, stressed that the twins’ parents had given their full consent and his work would be needed to stem the spread of HIV and AIDS.
He even revealed that another woman participant could be pregnant with a third gene-edited baby.
Baltimore criticized the scientist for shrugging off a broad social consensus on the matter, even before the health risks could be fully understood and studied.
“We invited people on the basis of their publication record and their status on the field. But we didn’t ask them to tell us ahead of time what they are going to talk about,” said Baltimore, who added that there was no moratorium on gene-altering, but there were some guidelines published by the US National Academy of Sciences.
The Chinese biologist claimed he had helped alter the genes of the twin girls to increase their resistance to HIV from their infected father, while their mother was free of the disease. He added that his experiment gave hope to the couple to have healthy children.
“The man thought he lost hope for his life [after being infected with HIV]. But when the healthy babies were born and with protection [against HIV], he sent me a message on the day of their birth to say he would work hard to earn money and take care of his two daughters,” He recounted in his speech.
But critics warned that altering genes could leave the girls susceptible to influenza and West Nile fever, with the danger of gene mutation resulting in more severe complications as well as the artificial changes passing on to future generations of the twins hard to be ruled out.
He told reporters that his team would follow up on the development and health conditions of the twins for at least 18 years and he had conducted numerous experiments using ape embryos before altering the genes of the twin girls.
He also said he had halted his clinical trials for the time being because of the uproar, but the 34-year-old scientist added that he would consider altering the genes of his future children.
On Tuesday, the Beijing News reported that He’s team had been conducting experiments involving 400 human embryos with funding from the Southern University of Science and Technology. He was reportedly lured to Shenzhen with generous allowances and benefits from the local authorities.
A copy of the contract the newspaper obtained showed that each couple who agreed to participate would be awarded 280,000 yuan (about US$40,000), provided they relinquished their right to demand compensation if infected with HIV during the experiment.
An investigation ordered by China’s National Health Commission is now under way, while some observers have been pushing the Chinese authorities to arrest He.
Read more: Chinese biologist who edited twins’ genes claims move was ethical
Increasing complex traits such as cognitive ability and executive function requires chaging of about 500 genes, a feat far beyond the capaiblities of CRISPR. It would require either iterative embryo selection or whole chromosome synthesis. Both of these techniques are a good 15 to 20 years away from perfection. This is the reason why I viewed this work as a minor deal.
As far as bioethics goes, there is only one legitimately recognized issue and that is informed consent. Since the girls were not alive to give their consent to being "designed’, there is a legitimate criticism of this work.
However, there is absolutely NO legitimate bioethic criticism of the those of us, including myself, who engage in self-experimentation for radical life extension purposes. Since by definition we give informed consent (duh! we do the work on ourselves) and, also by definition, the self-experiment affects only us, bioethics has no legitimate criticism of our efforts as well as the life extension movement itself.
Increasing complex traits such as cognitive ability and executive function requires chaging of about 500 genes, a feat far beyond the capaiblities of CRISPR. It would require either iterative embryo selection or whole chromosome synthesis. Both of these techniques are a good 15 to 20 years away from perfection. This is the reason why I viewed this work as a minor deal.
As far as bioethics goes, there is only one legitimately recognized issue and that is informed consent. Since the girls were not alive to give their consent to being "designed’, there is a legitimate criticism of this work.
However, there is absolutely NO legitimate bioethic criticism of the those of us, including myself, who engage in self-experimentation for radical life extension purposes. Since by definition we give informed consent (duh! we do the work on ourselves) and, also by definition, the self-experiment affects only us, bioethics has no legitimate criticism of our efforts as well as the life extension movement itself.
WuKong Sun I guess you’d know, the only satisfaction you get as ladies prefer something bigger.
WuKong Sun I guess you’d know, the only satisfaction you get as ladies prefer something bigger.
WuKong Sun Your gweilo co-workers ? Do you look up to them ?
WuKong Sun Your gweilo co-workers ? Do you look up to them ?
Maybe just another bogus propaganda of China advance research. This can only be proven if all those Winnie Xi Pooh loving people will try it to confirm. Just like their J-15 fighters-all hype !!!!
https://taskandpurpose.com/china-j-15-fighter-jets/
Maybe just another bogus propaganda of China advance research. This can only be proven if all those Winnie Xi Pooh loving people will try it to confirm. Just like their J-15 fighters-all hype !!!!
https://taskandpurpose.com/china-j-15-fighter-jets/
It’s u fvcking going blind from too much self servicing, first the brain shrink to pea size.
It’s u fvcking going blind from too much self servicing, first the brain shrink to pea size.
Is it just me or does Mr He (haha) look like Winnie Xi Pooh. Maybe they all look the same, and maybe that’s why he wants his kids to not look like Winnie Xi Pooh.
Is it just me or does Mr He (haha) look like Winnie Xi Pooh. Maybe they all look the same, and maybe that’s why he wants his kids to not look like Winnie Xi Pooh.
WuKong Sun Your young ladies seem to want bigger gweilos !
WuKong Sun Your young ladies seem to want bigger gweilos !