Recently, scientist He Jiankui announced that the world’s first genetically edited baby immune to AIDS was born in China in November, which caused widespread doubts from all walks of life. On the 27th, the Ministry of Science and Technology, China Association for Science and Technology and China Academy of Sciences successively responded to the incident of gene editing baby: explicitly banned and resolutely opposed.

　　Three departments responded to the gene editing baby incident

　　On the 27th, in the "Minister’s Teahouse" held by the State Council Information Office, Xu Nanping, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said that the Ethical Guiding Principles of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research promulgated in 2003 stipulated that human embryos could be genetically edited and modified for research purposes, but the in vitro culture period should not exceed 14 days from fertilization or nuclear transfer. If this "genetically edited baby" is confirmed to have been born and is prohibited, it will be in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of China.

　　China Association for Science and Technology Life Science Association issued a statement on the 27th: stick to the bottom line of scientific research ethics, resolutely oppose illegal gene editing of babies, and comprehensively investigate and punish the institutions involved.

　　On 27th, the Scientific Ethics Construction Committee of China Academy of Sciences issued a statement on the official website of China Academy of Sciences, which mentioned, "We are highly concerned about this matter, and resolutely oppose any individual or unit to carry out the clinical application of human embryo gene editing under the circumstances of uncertain theory, imperfect technology, uncontrollable risks and explicit prohibition of ethical laws and regulations. We are willing to actively cooperate with the state and relevant departments and regions to conduct joint investigations to verify the relevant situation, and call on relevant investigation agencies to announce the progress and results of the investigation to the public in a timely manner. "

　　122 scientists jointly strongly condemned.

　　Immediately after the announcement of "Gene Editing Baby", many people questioned it. On that night, 122 China scholars issued a "Joint Statement of Scientists" through @ Intellectuals Official Weibo:"We, as biomedical researchers, resolutely oppose any attempt to edit the genetic genes of human embryos without strict ethical and safety review at this stage! ! ! Strongly condemn! ! ！”

　　Gene editing babies face multiple doubts

　　At present, the academic and public doubts about genetically edited babies mainly focus on the following aspects:

　　Question 1: Is it safe for two babies to knock out CCR5 gene?

　　Question 2: Ethical and moral issues of this technology.. Hawking, a famous physicist, is worried that once there is a genetically modified Superman, the "unmodified human" may not be able to compete, gradually disappear, or become "unimportant", and human beings will compete for "self-design".

　　Question 3: This technology can be done long ago without any innovation, but biomedical scientists around the world don’t do it or dare to do it because of the uncertainty of off-target, other great risks and more important ethics.

　　Question 4: Why choose HIV? Is it to be famous or attract attention? Mother-to-child blocking technology of AIDS is very mature, so why choose gene editing?

　　The baby event of gene editing continues to ferment, but He Jiankui himself has not responded to it. He is currently attending the second international summit of human genome editing in Hong Kong.

　　He Jiankui once wrote that "gene editing is extremely irresponsible"

　　Regarding the experiment of genetically modified babies announced by He Jiankui, the media noticed that in February last year, He Jiankui also published an article entitled "The Safety of Gene Editing of Human Embryos remains to be solved" on the blog of Science Network, in which he said: No matter from the perspective of science or social ethics, it is extremely irresponsible for any human to perform germ cell line editing or make gene editing until these important safety issues are solved.

　　However, according to the time, just one year after he published this article, the human embryo of this genetically edited baby has been implanted into the human mother.

　　In addition, on November 25, an Associated Press report on He Jiankui’s experiment also described this: An American scientist said that he participated in this work in China, and this kind of gene editing is prohibited in the United States, because changes in DNA will be passed on to future generations, which may harm other genes.

△ "News 1+1" video: Gene editing baby has become a fact?

　　The reputation of China scientists in the field of gene editing may be affected.

　　This incident is not the first time that China’s gene editing research has been questioned because of ethical issues. In April 2015, Huang Jun, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, reported in a study published online in the biological magazine protein and Cell that his team had completed the world’s first gene modification experiment in human embryos. Huang Jun originally hoped to publish this research in the journal Nature or Science, but was rejected successively. The two magazines refused to disclose the details of the review, but admitted that they were concerned about the complex ethical issues behind human gene editing.

　　At that time, just before the first international summit on human genome editing, the summit finally issued a statement, which gave a green light for studying the modification of early human embryos or germ cells by gene editing technology, but at the same time pointed out that the modified germ cells should not be used for pregnancy purposes. Since then, China’s ethical principles of genetic science have been strictly examined by international academic circles.

　　Three years ago, many China scientists stood on the side of Huang Jun. Zhai Xiaomei, executive director of Bioethics Research Center of China Academy of Medical Sciences and professor of Peking Union Medical College, was one of them. She said that Huang Jun’s experiment belongs to pre-research, and "no clinical trial at all" is to deepen the understanding of technical knowledge. The team used the three embryonic nuclei abandoned by the hospital and could only survive for dozens of hours. National legal norms allow it, which is also in line with international bioethics norms. She has visited several countries to introduce the current situation of gene editing in China to international academic circles, and to eliminate "misunderstanding about Huang Jun’s experiment".

　　At the 2nd International Summit of Human Genome Editors held on 27th, Zhai Xiaomei originally planned to introduce the development of bioethics in China, in response to the international community’s doubts about China. But the news of the birth of a genetically edited baby the day before the meeting made her feel a blow.

　　In Zhai Xiaomei’s view, the nature of He Jiankui’s experiment is completely different from that of Huang Jun. "It is academic anomie and there is a big problem." She said, "it’s too much to report to the academic community after the children are born!" Moreover, the existing laws and regulations in our country prohibit this. "

　　In 2003, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health jointly issued 12 "Ethical Guiding Principles for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research", among which Article 6 stipulates that "human blastocysts that have been used for research shall not be implanted into the reproductive system of human beings or other animals." In He’s experiment, genetically modified embryos were put into the uterus and gave birth to twins.

　　Netizen: Pandora’s Box has been opened.

　　This matter has also caused a large-scale discussion among netizens on the Internet. The following is a message from CCTV news users ↓ ↓

　　@ Let it be: Support the Ministry of Science and Technology to respond! Resolutely oppose the clinical application of human embryo gene editing, which is prohibited by ethical laws and regulations!

　　@ lobangwangmu: Scientific research really needs to be based on ethics and law. Science and technology without moral and legal foundation may bring not happiness but disaster to mankind! Support the response of the Ministry of Science and Technology!

　　@ 京京京京: The super human predicted by Hawking, Pandora’s box has been opened.

　　@ 京京京京京: Don’t do research that violates ethics! That is worthless and a waste of manpower and capital.

　　@ 京京京京京 Joanna: If human beings start the gene editing mode, there will be more genetic changes in the future, which will violate the principle of nature’s survival of the fittest and natural selection.

　　@ Daying: This is a simple and rude experiment. A single gene can immunize against many diseases, even single-celled organisms do not, and gene knockout will have unpredictable chain reactions in vitro. This congratulation not only challenges ethics, but also is unscientific, and the experiment is not innovative. It just treats people as guinea pigs, which makes the international community distrust the scientific community in China and has a serious negative impact.

　　@YUE: The progress of science and technology is supposed to be a good thing, and it is beneficial to mankind. Gene editing can solve some problems that cannot be solved by current medicine from the source, but once it is out of the bondage of law and driven by interests, the achievements of science and technology will easily be used by bad people and bring disaster to mankind. Therefore, at the same time of scientific and technological progress, we should constantly standardize the relevant legal system and strictly enforce it so that the achievements of scientific and technological progress can contribute to human progress.

　　@ mr.yao: Support not to edit genes casually. If this can be edited casually, it is a potential threat to the natural development of mankind.