China is focused on ethics to contain another CRISPR baby scandal

However, some doubt that government statements will discourage scientists from conducting research that violates ethical standards.

China's powerful State Council urges research institutions to expand and improve their ethics education. The policy, one of several detailed ethical statements, aims to fill a surveillance gap revealed when Chinese researcher He Jiankui shocked the world by creating the first genome-edited baby in 2018.

Researchers welcomed the statement issued by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party last month. They say it sends the strongest warning to scientists who might consider conducting research that violates ethical standards, such as editing the genome of B. human embryos. However, some have also questioned how effective the document is in preventing such practices.

The document is typical of many official statements - "full of very high principles, phrases, and statements, but often obscure wording," said Jing-Bao Ne, a bioethicist at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He said the challenge for China is not to create new rules but to ensure that they are adhered to practically.

turning point

In late 2018, He Jiankui announced that he had used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to alter the embryonic genome to make it immune to HIV. He then implants these edited embryos into women. The experiment resulted in the birth of twins and a third baby the following year, leading to international condemnation of the premature and risky use of He gene editing in embryos destined for implantation. In late 2019, a Chinese court sentenced Him to three years in prison.

He Jiankui's case marks a turning point in research ethics in China, said Haidan Chen, a bioethicist at Beijing University in Beijing. Following his revelations, the government underwent a process of self-reflection, holding seminars with researchers and officials across the country about what factors made it possible to conduct the experiment and what could be done to it from happening again, Chen said.

At the end of 2019, the Chinese government established the National Science and Technology Ethics Committee, a group of senior experts to oversee research ethics management. The statement was the "first publicly finalized result" of the effort, said Xiaomei Jai.