The scientist, the twins and the experiment thatgeneticists say went too far
Humanity was reluctantly dragged into a new era this week.
In a video posted on YouTube, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced to the world that he successfully used the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to modify the DNA of two embryos before birth, essentially creating the world's first genetically modified humans.
The news, delivered on the eve of a high-profile scientific meeting in Hong Kong on human gene editing, left the science community in shock. "I see it as one of those moments that happens once every few decades," said William Hurlbut, Senior Research Scholar at Stanford University Medical Center's Department of Neurobiology. "Where someone does something that so dramatically changes the landscape that the world will never be the same again."
But the scientistwho accomplished this history-altering feat was not celebrated nor lavishedwith praise. In fact, his whereabouts are currently unknown. He skipped outearly of the very event where he presented his research amid calls for a probeinto this work. The Chinese authorities have opened an "immediateinvestigation" into He and ordered those involved in the project tosuspend their activities.
Editing the DNA ofhuman embryos that go on to deliver has never been done before. And with goodreason, scientists say. The technology is still in its infancy and could leadto a multitude of unknown genetic complications later in life.
Scientists havereached an understanding that implanting such an embryo is a boundary thatshouldn't be crossed until the risks are reduced or eliminated. "No oneexpected that someone would do this experiment on a human embryo," FengZhang, one of the inventors of the gene-editing technique CRISPR and member ofthe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard told CNN. "The scientific communitydidn't actually know anything about what was going on."
He, a professor atthe Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, said he was"proud" of his work that resulted in two ostensibly healthy twingirls born from embryos altered to make them resistant to HIV. But he wascondemned by his peers and the experiment was labeled "monstrous,""unethical," and a "huge blow" to the reputation of Chinese biomedical research.（对中国的生物医学研究声誉是个很大的损害）
That He could tinker with life changing technology away from the eyes of regulators and purportedly even the university where he conducted the experiment, has raisedserious ethical questions around the transparency of gene editing and sparked calls for a globally binding code of conduct.
The case also places renewed scrutiny on China, a leader in the field of genome editing and biotechnology that has historically had a reputation for sidestepping ethical questions in favor of innovation.（此次时间也让外界重新审视中国，中国在基因编辑等生物技术领域遥遥领先，但只支持技术创新却逃避道德问题也一直名声远播）
But deeper questions are being asked as to whether it is now inevitable that this technology will be used in the future.
"Never before have humans had power like this over our own biology," Hurlbut said. "We are now in the era of germline genetic engineering.
