The scientist who claims his lab made the world’s first genetically edited babies has been sentenced to three years in prison.
One of a trio of defendants charged with illegal medical practice, ringleader He Jiankui received the most serious punishment: three years behind bars and a 3 million yuan ($429,000) fine.
He made headlines last year when his lab allegedly used CRISPR technology to alter the DNA of sisters Lulu and Nana*, born in November 2018 to Grace and Mark.
Grace began her pregnancy via in vitro fertilization (IVF)—with a twist: After inseminating her eggs, an embryologist sent in “a little bit of protein,” plus instructions for a gene surgery to disable the CCR5 gene, through which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enters.
The news set the scientific community alight; an angry mob of researchers carried proverbial pitchforks and torches, calling He’s conduct unethical.
Not since the first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 has so much fuss been made about assisted reproductive technology.
Branded by some as “China’s Frankenstein,” He reportedly revised embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments. Only one pregnancy has so far been confirmed successful, though there were rumors of a second.
“The court held that the three defendants failed to obtain a doctor’s qualification and pursued for profit, deliberately violated the relevant national regulations on scientific research and medical management, crossed the scientific and medical ethics bottom line, and rashly applied gene editing technology to human-assisted reproductive medicine, disrupting medical treatment,” according to a translated article from the Xinhua News Agency.
That’s a lot of strikes.
Collaborators Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, who managed to stay out of the media spotlight since the project purportedly began in June 2016, have also been incarcerated: for one year (plus 1 million yuan [$143,000] fine) and 18 months (plus 500,000 yuan [$72,000] fine and two-year suspension), respectively.
All three scientists have been blacklisted for life by the Department of Health of Guangdong Province from working with human genetic technology.
* Names of the twins and their parents have been changed by the He Lab for privacy reasons.
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