Biotech Values

[Titan V]

Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612458/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating-crispr-babies/

A daring effort is underway to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene-editing.

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According to Chinese medical documents posted online this month, a team at the Southern University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, has been recruiting couples in an effort to create the first gene-edited babies. They planned to eliminate a gene called CCR5 in order to render the offspring resistant to HIV, smallpox, and cholera.

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The birth of the first genetically tailored humans would be a stunning medical achievement, for both He and for China. But it will prove controversial, too. Where some see a new form of medicine to eliminate genetic disease, others see a slippery slope to enhancements, designer babies, and a new form of eugenics.

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The genetic editing of a speck-sized human embryo carries significant risks, including the risk of introducing unwanted mutations into it or of yielding a baby whose body is composed of some edited and some unedited cells. Data on the Chinese trial site indicate that one of the fetuses is a “mosaic” comprised of cells which had been edited in different ways.

Reminds me of the movie Gattaca (1997).