Chinese Scientist Who Created Gene-Edited Babies Gets A Three-Year Sentence

Whether that editing human genes violates our moral codes and will be out of control has drawn flaks for quite a while. This matter of dispute initialized last year when a former Stanford scientist revealed to the world that he had used a tool called CRISPR/Cas9 to successfully create two babies with edited genes. Along with two associates, the scientist in the story – He Jiankui – had to attend a secret trial in China before getting a penalty of three years in prison.

He was a gifted biophysics researcher in China and became extremely infamous since he announced his immoral research. According to Chinese media, the Stanford-trained scientist and his colleagues had performed illegal medical practice on human genes in trade for reproductive purposes. In specific, the team originally worked on a project of the CCR5 gene in 2016, aiming to find a way to help humans biologically withstand the HIV virus. According to Xinhua News, they conducted experiments on an undisclosed number of HIV-infected persons. As part of the project, two women were implanted with gene-edited embryos, which later resulted in the birth of two genetically-edited babies.

In addition to carrying a jail sentence, He must pay for around $429,000 of fine and receives a lifetime ban on activities related to reproductive medicine. Meanwhile, his two colleagues respectively have to do time in two years and 18 months.

As cited by the court, gene-editing technique comes under fire due to its safety and effectiveness, not to mention that He and his team are said to forge documents to fool both doctors and patients to help them. They were convinced by fake proofs that deceived them with a vaccine trial, rather than the real genetic modifications.