Francheska Therese M.

Valmonte

Chinese scientist, Jiankui He, had announced that he already had created the world’s first gene-

edited babies. He was expected to discuss his work officially in Hong Kong, November 28.

According to the interview with the Associated Press, in a video posted online (November 25),

made way to announce twin girls named Lulu and Nana, with an edited gene that reduces the risk

of having HIV. He also claimed “gene surgery” has already been proven safe in adults with HIV.

The statement received many criticisms from many researchers as his work destroyed the ethics

of human, and this also exposes the babies to further health risks and fear “designer babies”

leading to artificial traits. Jiankui He, objects the term and called it “gene surgery babies”

himself. Knowing that his work will be controversial, he’s willing to take the criticisms and

urged to claim that some families would need technology for healthier babies.

Many researchers argue that gene-editing was not ‘life-saving’ nor does it prevent disease.

Although knowing the father has HIV, there are safer ways to protect them. “Even if Lulu and

Nana don’t end up with any health complications, the experiment is still bad science” claimed by

Julian Savulescu, a bioethicist at University of Oxford. Beaudet and colleagues are conducting

experiments on mice to determine whether gene editing leads to more new mutations than usual,

he said.

At least, Feng Zhang, a prominent gene-editing researcher of the Broad Institute of MIT and

Harvard, has now called for moratorium until further studies are conducted in safer ways. Fauci

and others, are concerned with the consequences that gene editing can go astray and damage

other important genes.

Laws governing gene-editing vary, having little or no clear policies regarding these. Marcy

Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, argues that countries

should take steps in banning the use of human embryo editing.

After He’s experiment was questioned, he was unable to be reached for a while.