CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ OPENING THE DOORS FOR DESIGNER BABIES? … kind of research” . Otherwise, “a technology with enormous promise for prevention and treatment of disease will be overshadowed by justifiable public outrage, fear, and disgust”. 33 The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where Jiankui was a part of faculty, was very fast to decline any involvement in his experiment 34 . Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology condemned the experiment as unlawful and promised to punish the researchers 35 . Despite the overall criticism, some scientists defended Jiankui with the notion his misconduct rather consists in breaching formal rules 36 . Furthermore, some more private reactions might have had an admiring tone. For example, a week after the announcement of the experiment, a Dubai fertility clinic congratulated Jiankui on his achievement and asked him to teach its clinicians “CRISPR gene editing for Embryology Lab Application” 37 . In his promotional YouTube video, Jiankui (in a deliberately casual style) claims that “[t]heir parents don’t want a designer baby. Just a child who won’t suffer from a disease which medicine can now prevent. Gene surgery is and should remain a technology for healing. Enhancing IQ or selecting hair or eye color isn’t what a loving parent does. That should be banned.” 38 Technically, the gene editing carried out by Jiankui was on an edge of enhancement, providing the children with a special immunity which is naturally very rare in people. Nevertheless, it is possible to argue that the aim was medical and the outcome of editing corresponds with the natural condition of some people. To emphasise the medical nature of the procedure, Jiankui calls it a “gene surgery” in his video. The situation, however, might be complicated by the fact that the deletion of CCR5 is linked with several changes in the brain. It enhances cognitive ability in mice, improves brain recovery after stroke in humans, and according to some studies, it might be associated with higher success in education. Intelligence is a very complex trait which is likely to be very difficult to enhance by gene editing, though, and it cannot be estimated yet what the actual effects of the editing on the two Chinese girls will be. 39 When confronted with the question regarding the possibility of 33 COLLINS, Francis S. Statement on Claim of First Gene-Edited Babies by Chinese Researcher. The National Institutes of Health. (28 November 2018.) accessed 30 May 2019. 34 See PARK, Alice. Chinese University “Shocked” By Researcher’s Report of First CRISPR Gene-Edited Human Babies. Time . (27 November 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 35 See CHEUNG, Elizabeth, SHEN, Alice. China suspends all projects of gene-edited baby scientist He Jiankui, and says those involved will be punished. South China Morning Post. (29 November 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 36 See for example interview with Harvard’s George Church in COHEN, Jon. “I feel an obligation to be balanced.” Noted biologist comes to defense of gene editing babies. Science. (28 November 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. Jiankui was partly defended also by the dean of Harvard Medical School George Q. Daley. See COOK, Michael. Harvard profs defend “rogue scientist”. BioEdge . (1 December 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 37 BEGLEY, Sharon. Fertility clinics around the world asked “CRISPR babies” scientist for how-to help. STAT. (28 May 2019.) accessed 29 May 2019. 38 The He Lab. About Lulu and Nana: Twin Girls Born Healthy After Gene Surgery As Single-Cell Embryos. YouTube. (25 November 2018.) accessed 24 May 2019. 39 See REGALADO, Antonio. China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced. MIT Technology Review. (21 February 2019.)

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