Another Gene-Edited Baby Confirmed in China

31.01.2019

A second woman in China is pregnant with a baby whose genome has been edited, authorities there have confirmed.

The announcement comes shortly after the Guangdong province health ministry issued a damning report on the scientist responsible, whose attempts to produce genetically-altered babies shocked the world last year. The ministry said that Dr He Jiankui broke national regulations against using genome editing for reproductive purposes in humans.

“This behaviour seriously violates ethics and the integrity of scientific research, is in serious violation of relevant national regulations and creates a pernicious influence at home and abroad,” the report stated, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

Dr He, who at the time was an associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, announced in November that he and his team had edited the genome of human embryos, in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV. The modified embryos were implanted into a woman resulting in the birth of twin girls.

The Chinese government ordered a halt to Dr He’s work shortly after. A potential second pregnancy was mentioned but unverified at the time.

The subsequent investigation found that Dr He had forged ethical review papers and deliberately evaded supervision of his work “in pursuit of personal fame and gain”, according to Xinhua. SUSTech has since announced that it has terminated Dr He’s employment, saying that his work “seriously violated academic ethics”.

The controversial genome-editing study has been widely criticised both in China and internationally.

BioNews. January 28.