Vindication for He Jiankui? Seven years after the Chinese scientist’s pioneering work landed him in jail, scientists and ethicists are exploring the inevitably of gene edited babies

A Chinese scientist horrified the world in 2018 when he revealed he had secretly engineered the birth of the world’s first gene-edited babies.

His work was reviled as reckless and unethical because, among other reasons, gene-editing was so new and the technology’s full risks were unknown.

China imprisoned the scientist, He Jiankui, for three years for violating medical regulations.

Fast forward to today: Mainstream scientific organizations are encouraging very careful basic research to explore gene-editing and human reproduction. But they still warn any attempts to create more genetically modified children anytime soon should remain strictly off limits.

Now, however, Silicon Valley venture capitalists, futurists, East Coast entrepreneurs, and pronatalists — who fear falling birth rates pose an existential threat to the human race — are eager to push the technology forward. And that’s kindling both great hopes and intense fears.

…

Related on the SLP

Embryo gene editing is on the horizon, stirring mixed emotions With global gene editing slow down, what’s the future of ‘designer babies?’

Viewpoint: 4 very real AI doomsday scenarios

After Idaho criminalized abortion providers in 2022, one-third of obstetricians fled. Health care advocates are making rural health the case for repealing the ban

Anti-GMO activists in Pakistan rev up their campaign of dire warnings

U.S. regulations prohibit editing genes in embryos that could become babies. But that could change, given the Trump administration’s deregulatory stance and support for reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization, some observers say.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here