London: Britain’s fertility regulator has approved a scientist’s request to edit the human genetic code in an effort to fight inherited diseases but critics fear the new technique crosses too many ethical boundaries.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority announced on Monday it has granted a research application to a team led by scientist Kathy Niakan to try to understand the genes that human embryos need to develop successfully.
Scientists say gene-editing techniques could one day lead to treatments for conditions like HIV, which causes AIDS, and inherited diseases like muscular dystrophy and sickle cell disease.
Niakan, of the Francis Crick Institute, plans to use gene editing to analyse the first week of an embryo’s growth.
This research will “enhance our understanding of (in vitro fertilisation) success rates, by looking at the very earliest stage of human development,” said Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute.
Peter Braude, an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at King’s College London, said the mechanisms being investigated by Niakan and colleagues “are crucial in ensuring healthy, normal development and implantation” and could help doctors understand how to improve in vitro fertilisation rates and prevent miscarriages. Braude is not connected to Niakan's research.
Last year, Chinese researchers made the first attempt at modifying genes in human embryos. Their laboratory experiment didn’t work the embryos weren’t viable but raised the prospect of altering genes to repair the genes of future generations.
The gene-editing technique was developed partly in the U.S. and scientists there have experimented with the method in animals and in human cells in the laboratory. Gene editing has not been used for any kinds of patient therapies just yet.
Critics warn that tweaking the genetic code this way could eventually produce a slippery slope that eventually leads to so-called “designer babies.”
