He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist behind the world’s first genetically modified human babies, has provided an update on the children’s lives.
The researcher first announced the controversial babies — a pair of twins — in 2018, drawing massive condemnation from the international community. Many accused him of “playing god” as he harnessed the power of CRISPR-Cas9, a tool that alters DNA sequences and modifies gene functions.
He also sparked outrage in his native China, where he was jailed for three years for deliberately violating national biomedical regulations in pursuit of “personal fame and gain.” He was released in April 2022.
Nearly a year after his release, the scientist spoke with South China Morning Post and provided an update on the children’s status.
The twins are now aged 4, while a third child — born in 2019 — would be a year younger.
“They have a normal, peaceful and undisturbed life,” He told SCMP. “This is their wish and we should respect them.”
The scientist said he did not want the children to be disturbed for scientific research. “The happiness of the children and their families should come first,” he added.
In an apparent admission of his errors, He also told SCMP that “I did it too quickly.” He confessed to having a feeling of “huge unease” and vowed to be ready to provide medical follow-ups for the rest of the children’s lives.
The twins, named Lulu and Nana, were born with altered copies of a rare gene called CCR5, which supposedly made them immune to HIV.
He sought to equip them with a version of the gene that is naturally present in about 1% of Northern Europeans.
However, editing errors resulted in the siblings having an entirely new version of the genes. Each was supposed to have a pair of the modified CCR5 from each parent.
One of Lulu’s copies had 15 base pairs deleted, while the other remained unaltered. Meanwhile, Nana has…
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