A scientist in China claims he genetically modified an embryo, producing the world’s first gene-edited baby
You’ve heard of genetically modified breakfast cereal; now we might have genetically modified human babies, if the claims of Chinese scientist He Jiankui turn out to be true.
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Scientist claims first genetically-modified child is born
Chinese scientist He Jiankui released a video in which he says that he modified the genes of a human embryo, and the embryo grew into a girl who was born healthy in November. If what he says is true, then this girl would be the first human baby born with modified genes.
The announcement has caused a controversy among scientists and ethicists. Our genes, our DNA, are what define us as humans. It’s what gives us our talents, our traits, and in some cases our frailties and disabilities. The genetic characteristics of any individual are a random combination of traits inherited from biological mothers and fathers. Until today, they’ve never been touched or edited by another person. Editing human genes is illegal in the United States; while it’s not illegal in China, it is controversial there. Dr. He has been placed on unpaid suspension while his university investigates. The Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, says it was not involved in Dr. He’s work on the embryo.
Dr. He says that he worked with seven couples in China. In each case, the father is HIV-positive. Being HIV-positive and developing AIDS used to be a death sentence; today’s it’s more manageable, but is still a serious health concern and it carries a significant social stigma in China. Dr. He says that during in vitro fertilization, he modified the embryos of their children in such a way as to prevent the father from passing along HIV to his children. Though he didn’t offer data or evidence to back up his work, people who are familiar with Dr. He’s work say they believe that the scientist’s claims may be true. One reason why this procedure is seen as especially controversial is that it isn’t even necessary: there are other ways to prevent a father from passing along the HIV virus to his children without editing genes.
Gene editing itself is not new. The process consists of adding, subtracting, or modifying DNA to produce certain traits in an organism. We have had genetically modified food since the early 1990s: primarily fruits, vegetables, corn, soybeans, and wheat. Genetically modified crops are more resistant to disease and stay fresh longer. Most scientists think genetically modified food is safe.
Genetically modified animals are a little different; they are mostly for the laboratory. Scientists have been working on GM cows, chickens, and pigs that are resistant to disease or grow faster, but these are not widely available in the food supply.
Modifying the genes of another human, though, is a totally different story. The techniques that Dr. He used, called Crispr, were only discovered in 2012. There are many concerns, but the two primary concerns are safety and the fear of playing God, of creating “designer babies.” Let’s take them one at a time.
First, safety. The gene-editing techniques are too new to know whether there might be unintended consequences. It’s possible that when modifying one gene to prevent disease, other modifications are introduced that could make the child more susceptible to other diseases. Dr. He says that this didn’t happen in this case, but gene editing is new even in farm animals, and is untested in humans. There’s no way to know how safe modifying human genes is without more knowledge of gene editing in general.
The second concern is an ethical concern: that this type of research is going to open the door to creating “designer babies.” That essentially means, picking and choosing the traits you want included or excluded in your child’s DNA. This holds promise, but also danger.
Imagine you are a couple and you know it is possible that you might pass along the traits for a terrible disease, such as muscular dystrophy, to your child. Gene editing might give you the hope of removing that genetic trait. If you could do that, you might feel more comfortable having a child naturally between the two of you. The ability to prevent a child from inheriting a genetic disease would be a benefit to humanity. But now imagine that a couple wants to make sure their child doesn’t have, say, autism, or doesn’t want the child to have the genes that would make him or her susceptible to addiction. And now imagine a couple wants to enhance a child’s athletic prowess, his or her athletic ability, or intelligence. And now imagine a government wants to change the genes of a child to make him or her resistant to pain to create a futuristic army of super-humans. Have you seen any of the Jason Bourne movies?
You can see why this is a slippery slope. The scenarios I just described are still far away, but they are less far away than they were before Dr. He’s announcement. The progress of scientific research in this area meant that we would always get to this moment. The world was always going to have to confront the ethical questions around gene editing. We are just going to have to do it a lot sooner now that the age of genetically modified humans is upon us.
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