Chinese scientists genetically modify human embryos
April 27, 2015 Category Health, Weekly
A team of Chinese scientists have successfully edited human DNA in an embryo for the first time, winning support at home but prompting controversy in the West. Huang Junjiu, Associate Professor of Biology at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and colleagues used cutting-edge technology to “cleave” a gene responsible for beta thalassemia, a common and sometimes deadly blood disorder among children in south China. The paper detailing the work was submitted to the journals Nature and Science but was turned down over ethical objections. Writing in the journal Protein & Cell, the authors said they were aware of the ethical issues. They used “non-viable” embryos discarded by hospitals, or eggs fertilized by multiple sperm. One critic, British biologist Edward Lanphier, told Nature that “we need to pause this research and make sure we have a broad-based discussion about which direction we are going”. Chen Guoqiang, Professor of Biology at Tsinghua University, said the critics’ demands were arbitrary. “To do as they say, no research should be done on human embryos at all,” he said. “The editing of human DNA holds the key to cure many diseases, maintain health, retain youth, live long. These will all be possible in the future and free many families from pain and suffering,” he added. Huang’s team experimented with 86 discarded embryos and found that editing was successful only in 28, or about 30% of embryos, the South China Morning Post reports.
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