Statement from the Organizing Committee on Reported Human Embryo Genome Editing

Statement from the Organizing Committee on Reported Human Embryo Genome Editing





Good morning! Andrew Joseph here filling in for Megan.
You can reach me at andrew.joseph@statnews.com.

Human genome editing summit wraps up

The international human genome editing summit in Hong Kong is ending, and in a closing statement, the 14-member organizing committee was clear: “We continue to believe that proceeding with any clinical use of germline editing remains irresponsible at this time.” The statement came after a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, rocked the summit and the global scientific community by claiming to have helped make the world’s first babies whose genomes were edited as embryos, claims that have not been verified. In its statement, the committee emphasized that scientists still don't fully understand all the risks of editing embryos or sex cells. Still, they left the theoretical door open to germline editing to prevent or cure inherited diseases if scientists can address all those risks. And they called on the scientific community to define what a pathway to clinical use should look like. “Germline genome editing could become acceptable in the future,” they said, adding that it would need to be accompanied by oversight, medical need, a lack of medical alternatives, a follow-up strategy, and “attention to societal effects.”