A Chinese scientist set off a firestorm recently when he claimed . He Jiankui says he altered the genes of twin girls while they were embryos, to protect them from the HIV virus. , said she was appalled by the news.
Burke . The are still doubts about the claim, because the research was not subjected to peer review. And many scientists say that 鈥� even if it did work 鈥� it was an unethical experiment.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of technology that we have that we don鈥檛 necessarily need to use until it鈥檚 been thoroughly researched,鈥� Burke said. 鈥淎nd even then there should be some brakes put on it.鈥�
Burke acknowledges that there鈥檚 a lot of potential to do good by editing genes that don鈥檛 work correctly in a person that has a disease or genetic condition.
But she cautioned that scientists don鈥檛 yet understand how all the genes work in a developing embryo. In the case of the Chinese twins, Burke said it鈥檚 unknown whether the alleged gene-editing could negatively affect the children, causing trouble for other parts of their genetic makeup or making them susceptible to other deadly viruses.
鈥淲hen we take a leap in our research, it鈥檚 usually done with a very clear threat to health. These were healthy embryos,鈥� Burke said.
In this case, she added, 鈥渉e was doing a treatment that wasn鈥檛 necessarily necessary.鈥�
