The Sun Yat-sen University, China – The Chinese scientists have successfully modified the genes of the human embryos raising concerns among the experts. This new development has the capacity to create a calamitous ripple effect on the offspring of human. Many have started questioning the ethical basis of such an invention that can alter the human embryos genetically.
The paper was published in the Protein and Cell journal and was presented by the research team in GuangZhou, China. Junjiu Huang, who headed the project provided the details of the research. The study used a particular gene responsible for causing β-thalassaemia. This blood disorder can prove to be fatal. The genes were edited using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique and to keep the ethic principles intact used only the non-viable embryos that were incapable of contributing in live birth.
At first 86 embryos were taken for study by the Chinese research team. However, out of 86 only 28 could be spliced in the required way. Only a small portion in these 28 embryos contained the replacement genes. According to Huang, while trying this technique on normal embryos it is highly important that the process be carried out with 100% precision to ensure success.
He says that his team thought that the technique is still in its immature stage and hence stopped. According to him however, use of non-viable embryos can be one of the reasons for the low efficiency rate and using human embryos can help in providing accurate representation.
Scientists Raise Concern, Call to Halt Such Technology
The moment news about the Chinese scientists embarking upon modification of human embryos came out, several experts and scientists demanded that such a technique should be stopped immediately. According to them, this technology can be risky and unethical and cannot be used in the human embryos.
Although the technique has proved to be extremely powerful in animal embryos, its use in humans is not acceptable to many.
