November 2018: Shomron: first report on gene-edited babies is dangerous development
A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies.
A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies. According to He Jiankui, a researcher at The Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, he altered the DNA of twin girls born this month. His goal was to try to bestow on the babies an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV.
Prof. Noam Shomron, Edmond J. Safra Center member, Medicine Faculty, an expert in genetics and bioethics, points to the fact that the researcher chose to return a fetus with only one copy of the transgenic gene. This, he says, is evidence that they took excessive risks, even beyond exposing people to medical treatments untested in the past. Not only does neutralizing the protein open the door to an increased risk of other viruses, but in this case the baby will not have immunity to HIV.
Read more and see interviews of Prof. Shomron on the controversial experiment in Haaretz newspaper, Israeli TV Channel 13 and Tel Aviv Radio Channel.