The heads of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine have called for greater clarity on what is deemed unacceptable in genome-editing research. In a letter to the editors of Nature, they said that while there was no consensus about how best to regulate such research, it would be “premature at this point” to discuss whether any particular research It follows the global condemnation of China's He Jiankui, who confirmed he used genome editor CRISPR on two embryos to create HIV-resistant human genes, which were then implanted and produced twin girls.
The heads of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine have called for greater clarity on what is deemed unacceptable in genome-editing research. In a joint editorial published in Science, the researchers called for an expedited report to be created covering germline editing – genetic alterations that are heritable. It follows the global condemnation of China's He Jiankui, who confirmed he used genome editor CRISPR on two embryos to create HIV-resistant human genes, which were then implanted and produced twin girls.