Defiant scientist defends gene-edited babies after international outcry

RadishRose

RadishRose

SF VIP
Location
Connecticut, USA
From this article, it appears the scientist has removed the gene that would allow the babies to ever contract HIV.

Jiankui He shocked the world with news his team had created the first genetically modified twin girls. Now he says there may be more on the way.

Chinese scientist Jiankui He on Wednesday faced questions from the media and other researchers for the first time in public since revealing his team created humanity's first gene-edited babies.
With some hesitation, He told the crowd at the second International Summit on Human Gene Editing in Hong Kong that more babies modified by the revolutionary gene-editing tool CRISPR could be on the way.


"There is another potential pregnancy," He said when pressed on stage after presenting his work at the summit. But he cautioned the pregnancy is at a very early stage.

https://www.cnet.com/news/defiant-s...ene-edited-babies-after-international-outcry/
 

On the one hand I think it's horrifying, like something totally unscrupulous nazis would have done. On the other hand, if eventually people could be spared diseases KNOWN to have a genetic cause, it could be good. But it just smacks of "mad scientist" that he was doing it without any responsible authority's knowledge.
 
It won't stop.

Maybe it will temporarily during our lifetime, but it will continue at some time, and I'm betting it won't be that long.

Just like space exploration-no matter how we wish for better use of that money, it will continue.
 
Science wil never stop and eventually morality must and hopefuly will be redefined. Some religions still exist that don't believe in doctors and that school must be destroyed. Beats me how religion can ever challenge science when it is undeniable we have been given brains to help the human condition. If my child is ill I'll take penicillin and you can keep your "thoughts and prayers"
 
I don't even like the idea of GMO crops, so I don't feel good about genetically modifying genes of humans. I honestly don't know very much about it at all, but there must be a better way to prevent and control HIV/AIDS in my opinion besides 'fooling with mother nature' like that.
 
One good thing (if you can call it that) about the man-made chemicals that pollute our environment today it that they can't reproduce themselves. One pound of dioxin will remain one pound until it is destroyed. Modified genes do not have that safeguard. Once loosed, that genie can't be put back into the bottle.
 
There is always an element of risk in any pioneering medical procedure. Many people were terrified when the first vaccines were produced. Yet they turned out extremely safe, and have probably saved thousands, if not millions, of lives.

How this gene-altering procedure works is not too clear from the video. Does it mean that those babies will have lifetime protection from HIV? And those twins were conceived via IVF. How could this apply to babies conceived in the usual way?
 
an update

https://gizmodo.com/report-scientists-in-china-are-losing-track-of-gene-ed-1831367684

Losing track of patents??? What the heck?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that an undisclosed number of Chinese cancer patients who have undergone experimental gene therapies aren’t being properly tracked as would be expected. In these cases, the patients had their genes modified with the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool in an effort to treat their cancer. The scientists in charge of at least one trial failed to maintain ties with their patients afterwards and conduct follow-up examinations, according to the WSJ.


 
More on this-

"(CNN)Authorities in China say experiments which led to the birth of the world's first gene-edited babies broke the country's laws, state-run Xinhua news reported Monday.

At the time, China's National Health Commission "immediately requested the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission to seriously investigate and verify" the claims made by the scientist."

At least China admits it's illegal as said Dr. He went on his own with this. Do you believe the government?

IMHO, I think that properly done for health reasons, gene-editing could be a wonderful thing.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/21/health/china-gene-editing-babies-intl/index.html
 
It won’t stop at this. Humans are far too greedy. I’ wouldn’t be surprised if in the future they had factories full of human bodies in a vegetative phase to keep the organs alive. I forget what the movie was called. Maybe Matrix. I forget.
Scary stuff. I also don’t like GMO fruits and vegetables. It’s like a slap in the face to our creator.
 
I understand how you feel Keesha, and admit it is scary.....but I feel the Creator created everything already for us to find, imho.

There is nothing new under the sun, I'm thinking.:)
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top