He Jiankui affair

In this Chinese name, the family name is Hè (贺).
He Jiankui
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The He Jiankui affair is a scientific and bioethical controversy concerning the use of genome editing following its first use on humans by Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who edited the genomes of human embryos in 2018.[1][2] He became widely known on 26 November 2018[3] after he announced that he had created the first human genetically edited babies. He was listed in Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019.[4] The affair led to ethical and legal controversies, resulting in the indictment of He and two of his collaborators, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou. He eventually received widespread international condemnation.

He Jiankui, working at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, started a project to help people with HIV-related fertility problems, specifically involving HIV-positive fathers and HIV-negative mothers. The subjects were offered standard in vitro fertilisation services and in addition, use of CRISPR gene editing (CRISPR/Cas9), a technology for modifying DNA. The embryos' genomes were edited to remove the CCR5 gene in an attempt to confer genetic resistance to HIV.[5] The clinical project was conducted secretly until 25 November 2018, when MIT Technology Review broke the story of the human experiment based on information from the Chinese clinical trials registry. Compelled by the situation, he immediately announced the birth of genome-edited babies in a series of five YouTube videos the same day.[6][7] The first babies, known by their pseudonyms Lulu (Chinese: 露露) and Nana (娜娜), are twin girls born in October 2018, and the second birth or the third baby born was in 2019,[8][9] named Amy.[10] He reported that the babies were born healthy.[11]

His actions received widespread criticism,[12][13] and included concern for the girls' well-being.[5][14][15] After his presentation on the research at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong on 28 November 2018, Chinese authorities suspended his research activities the following day.[16] On 30 December 2019, Chinese authorities announced that he was found guilty of forging documents and unethical conduct; he was sentenced to three years in prison with a three-million-yuan fine (US$430,000).[17][18] Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou received an 18-month prison sentence and a 500,000-yuan fine, and were banned from working in assisted reproductive technology for life.[19]

He Jiankui has been variously referred to as a "rogue scientist",[20] "China's Dr Frankenstein",[21] and a "mad genius".[22] The impact of human gene editing on resistance to HIV infection and other body functions in experimental infants remains controversial. The World Health Organization has issued three reports on the guidelines of human genome editing since 2019,[23] and the Chinese government has prepared regulations since May 2019.[24] In 2020, the National People's Congress of China passed Civil Code and an amendment to Criminal Law that prohibit human gene editing and cloning with no exceptions; according to the Criminal Law, violators will be held criminally liable, with a maximum sentence of seven years in prison in serious cases.[25][26]

  1. ^ Greely, Henry T (2019). "CRISPR'd babies: human germline genome editing in the 'He Jiankui affair'". Journal of Law and the Biosciences. 6 (1): 111–183. doi:10.1093/jlb/lsz010. PMC 6813942. PMID 31666967.
  2. ^ Cyranoski, David (22 January 2019). "CRISPR-Baby Scientist Fired by University". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00246-2. S2CID 159097706. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  3. ^ Cyranoski, David; Ledford, Heidi (26 November 2018). "Genome-edited baby claim provokes international outcry". Nature. 563 (7733): 607–608. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..607C. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07545-0. PMID 30482929. S2CID 53768039.
  4. ^ "Scientist He Jiankui Among TIME'S 100 Most Influential". CodeBlue. 19 April 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  5. ^ a b "China Orders Investigation After Scientist Claims First Gene-Edited Babies". The New York Times. Reuters. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  6. ^ Regalado, Antonio (25 November 2018). "Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  7. ^ Bulluck, Pam (14 April 2019). "Gene-Edited Babies: What a Chinese Scientist Told an American Mentor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  8. ^ Begley, Sharon; Joseph, Andrew (17 December 2018). "The CRISPR Shocker: How Genome-Editing Scientist He Jiankui Rose from Obscurity to Stun the World". Stat News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  9. ^ Begley, Sharon (26 November 2018). "Claim of CRISPR'd baby girls stuns genome editing summit". Stat News. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  10. ^ Gutierrez C., Nicolas (29 June 2022). "What's next for the gene-edited children from CRISPR trial in China?". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  11. ^ Begley, Sharon (28 November 2018). "Amid Uproar, Chinese Scientist Defends Creating Gene-Edited Babies". STAT. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  12. ^ Kolata, Gina; Belluck, Pam (5 December 2018). "Why Are Scientists So Upset About the First Crispr Babies? - Only because a rogue researcher defied myriad scientific and ethical norms and guidelines. We break it down". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  13. ^ The Editorial Board (28 January 2019). "Should Scientists Toy With the Secret to Life? - The gene-editing technology Crispr has the power to remake life as we know it. Questions about how to use it concern everyone". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  14. ^ Regalado, Antonio (25 November 2018). "Exclusive: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies - A daring effort is under way to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene editing". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  15. ^ Cyranoski, David (27 November 2018). "How the genome-edited babies revelation will affect research - Some scientists worry the startling claim will lead to knee-jerk regulations and damage the public's trust in gene editing". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07559-8. S2CID 158314199. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  16. ^ Jiang, Steven; Regan, Helen; Berlinger, Joshua (29 November 2018). "China suspends scientists who claim to have produced first gene-edited babies". CNN News. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  17. ^ Wee, Sui-Lee (30 December 2019). "Chinese Scientist Who Genetically Edited Babies Gets 3 Years in Prison - He Jiankui's work was also carried out on a third infant, according to China's state media, in a new disclosure that is likely to add to the global uproar over such experiments". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  18. ^ Yee, Isaac; Hollingsworth, Julia (30 December 2019). "Chinese gene-editing scientist jailed for 3 years". CNN News. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  19. ^ "China convicts 3 researchers involved in gene-edited babies". AP NEWS. 20 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  20. ^ Cohen, Jon (2 August 2019). "Inside the circle of trust". Science. 365 (6452): 430–437. Bibcode:2019Sci...365..430C. doi:10.1126/science.365.6452.430. PMID 31371593.
  21. ^ Yan, Sophia (28 November 2018). "China's 'Dr Frankenstein' says second woman in early pregnancy with gene-edited babies". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  22. ^ Low, Zoe (27 November 2018). "China's gene editing Frankenstein had dreams of being Chinese Einstein". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference NAT-20190520 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ "中华人民共和国刑法修正案（十一）_滚动新闻_中国政府网". www.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2024.