The ‘Monstrous’ Immorality of Creating Genetically Engineered Babies
A scientist claims he used CRISPR to create gene-edited twins
On November 25, He Jiankui, a scientist at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China announced, via YouTube, that he had created the world’s first genetically engineered babies. He said twin girls, Lulu and Nana, had been born via in vitro fertilization. The embryos used to create the twins were altered with a genetic editing tool known as CRISPR. He said the goal was to make it harder for HIV to invade and infect their white blood cells by creating a genetic message associated with enhanced resistance to acquiring AIDS. The girls, he claims, needed this protection since their fathers had the HIV virus. More genetically altered children are, He says, on the way.
“For this specific case, I feel proud, actually,” he said at a conference on Wednesday.
Some doubt that He accomplished what he says because there is no peer-reviewed paper to back up his claim. But He is no scientific slouch. He trained at Rice University and Stanford University and has been invited to many conferences of elite scientists who are perfecting gene editing technologies. He is also a moral idiot who has engaged in a renegade experiment that may well setback the very promising field…
