the world’s first genetically edited babies twin girls were born this month thanks to the A Chinese researcher He Jianku who has claimed that the newborns DNA was altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.
A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes.
The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus.
the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done.
Several scientists reviewed materials that He provided to the AP and said tests so far are insufficient to say the editing worked or to rule out harm.
