Britain on Monday granted its first research license to genetically modify human embryos to a project that aims to give hope to women struggling to conceive, raising ethical concerns about “designer babies.”
The decision makes Britain one of the first countries in the world to grant this type of authorization on one of science’s new frontiers and follows months of deliberation by the British embryology regulator.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said it had approved an application from Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute for a new laboratory research license “to include gene editing of embryos.”
Researchers explained that the embryos used would be spare ones donated by women receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment who do not need them.
Any modified embryos have to be destroyed within 14 days and cannot be implanted in a woman. The research is to examine embryos in their first few days.
“Dr Niakan’s proposed research is important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops and will enhance our understanding of IVF success rates,” Francis Crick Institute director Paul Nurse said.
The project, which could start within months, would use CRISPR/Cas9, a technique allowing scientists to insert, remove and correct DNA within a cell.
The technique was developed by US chemistry professor Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and could also be used to treat illnesses like sickle cell diseases, cystic fibrosis and some cancers.
Charpentier last year said the technique was “a little bit like a Swiss knife that cuts DNA at a precise point and can be used to introduce a series of changes in the genome of a call or an organism.”
In a research paper published in April last year, Chinese scientists described how they were able to manipulate the genomes of human embryos for the first time using CRISPR/Cas9, raising ethical concerns.
Campaigners criticized Monday’s decision.
“This is the first step in a well mapped-out process leading to GM [genetically modified] babies, and a future of consumer eugenics,” watchdog group Human Genetics Alert director David King said.
A UNESCO panel of scientists, philosophers, lawyers and ministers last year called for a halt to genetic “editing,” warning of the danger of tampering with hereditary traits that could lead to eugenics.
UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee said gene therapy could be “a watershed in the history of medicine” and genome editing “is unquestionably one of the most promising undertakings of science for the sake of all humankind.”
However, the experts warned that genetic editing required “particular precautions” and raised “serious concerns.”
There were particular grounds for concerns if the modifications “introduce hereditary modifications, which could be transmitted to future generations,” they said.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
PROTESTS: A crowd near Congress waved placards that read: ‘How can we have freedom without education?’ and: ‘No peace for the government’ Argentine President Javier Milei has made good on threats to veto proposed increases to university funding, with the measure made official early yesterday after a day of major student-led protests. Thousands of people joined the demonstration on Wednesday in defense of the country’s public university system — the second large-scale protest in six months on the issue. The law, which would have guaranteed funding for universities, was criticized by Milei, a self-professed “anarcho-capitalist” who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the deficit. A huge crowd packed a square outside Congress
RSS