The investigation team of Guangdong Province, which is in charge of investigating the gene-edited baby incident, pointed out that it has been preliminarily found out that the incident was pursued by Southern University of Science and Technology Associate Professor He Jiankui in pursuit of personal fame and fortune, self-raised funds, deliberately evaded supervision, privately organized relevant personnel, and carried out the implementation of the national prohibition.Human embryo gene editing activities for reproductive purposes.
According to a Xinhua News Agency report today (21st), the investigation team introduced that since June 2016, He Jiankui has privately organized a project team including overseas personnel, deliberately evading supervision, using technologies with inaccurate safety and effectiveness, and implementing national prohibitions.Human embryo gene editing activities for reproductive purposes.From March 2017 to November 2018, He Jiankui recruited eight couples of volunteers to participate in the experiment through forged ethics approval documents.Among these volunteers, the male partner was positive for HIV antibodies, while the female partner was negative.
In order to circumvent the relevant regulations that HIV carriers are not allowed to perform assisted reproduction, they planned other people to replace volunteers for blood tests, and instructed individual practitioners to conduct gene editing on human embryos and implant them into mothers in violation of regulations. In the end, two volunteers became pregnant, and one of them was pregnant.She has given birth to twin baby girls Lulu Nana, and the other one is pregnant.One of the remaining six pairs of volunteers dropped out of the experiment midway, and the other five pairs failed to conceive.This behavior seriously violates ethics and scientific research integrity, seriously violates relevant national regulations, and has a negative impact at home and abroad.
The person in charge of the investigation team stated that He Jiankui and the people and institutions involved will be dealt with seriously in accordance with laws and regulations, and those suspected of crimes will be handed over to the public security organs for handling.For born babies and pregnant volunteers, Guangdong Province will, under the guidance of relevant state departments, work with relevant parties to do a good job in medical observation and follow-up.
On November 26, 2018, He Jiankui’s team announced the birth of a pair of gene-edited babies.Guangdong Province later launched an investigation into the incident.
