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Human Germ-line Editing - China's Condemnation

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January 24, 2019

What is the issue?

  • China has recently condemned its 'baby gene editing' scientist He Jiankui of violating both ethics and laws in his research.
  • The issue has forced researchers everywhere to take a hard look at the ethics of gene-editing.

What was He Jiankui's claim?

  • Human germline modification means deliberately changing the genes passed on to children and future generations.
  • He Jiankui claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies last year. Click here to know more.
  • He claims to have altered twin girls' genes so they could not get HIV.
  • He faced severe condemnation as any application of gene editing on human embryos for reproductive purposes was unethical.
  • He had also allegedly used technology of an uncertain safety level.

Why is He's exercise so significant?

  • The promises of gene-editing using the Crispr-Cas9 editing system are boundless.
  • Editing DNA to correct disease mutations has been possible for a while now, which means others can also do what Mr. He did.
  • Over a dozen clinical trials are currently on to treat diseases like HIV, multiple myeloma and other forms of cancer.
  • But, notably, none of them involve editing the so-called 'human germ-line'.
  • Instead, they have restricted themselves to fixing genetic flaws in sick adults.
  • But Mr. He deactivated a gene in two human embryos, which means that the changes he made could be inherited by the next generation.
  • In doing so, he violated the widely held ethical consensus that it is too early for germ-line editing, as less is known on the risks associated.

What is the need for caution?

  • Editing the ‘human germline’ is an exercise fraught with unknown risks and embryo gene-editing is not as precise as is needed today.
  • The technology can result in unintended mutations, which in turn can cause cancers.
  • There is also the danger of mosaicism, in which some cells inherit the target mutation, while others do not.
  • Even when gene-editing becomes fool-proof, the decision to edit embryos will have to be assessed on its other ethical aspects.
  • This is because, today, there is less understanding on how exactly individual genes influence phenotypes (the visible traits of people).
  • Every gene likely influences multiple traits, depending on the environment it interacts with.
  • This makes it hard to predict the ultimate outcome of an embryo-editing exercise without decades of follow-up.
  • E.g. in He’s experiment, he sought to immunise a pair of twins from HIV by tinkering with a gene called CCR5
  • But while protecting against HIV, a deactivated CCR5 gene can also make people more susceptible to West-Nile Fever.
  • So in all, there is now a global need for clear guidelines on genetic intervention which can be made defensible only in very rare situations where no alternative exists.

 

Source: The Hindu

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