Chinese scientist claims can stop human ageing. After revealing in 2018 that he created first-gene-edited children, controversial Chinese scientist He Jiankui claimed to have proposed a new idea to modify human embryos that could help people stop aging.
Jiankui was imprisoned in China for three years for his illegal medical practices. He stunned the global community of healthcare professionals last year when he announced on social media that he was opening a research lab in Beijing.
Since then, his research has centered on using gene therapy to treat rare diseases.
However, his new research proposal has sparked a new round of controversy, which experts say is reminiscent of his previous work.
His research was criticized and regarded as unethical and dangerous – with the potential to impact human DNA across generations.
In a very short document, his proposal suggested that his research would involve gene-editing mouse embryos and then zygotes — human fertilized egg cells — in order to test whether a mutation “confers protection against Alzheimer’s disease.”
Chinese scientist claims can stop human ageing, read the Tweet:
I am proposing a research project “Human embryo gene editing to protect against Alzheimer’s disease” pic.twitter.com/hCn02eNsGQ
— Jiankui He (@Jiankui_He) June 29, 2023
The Chinese scientist wrote as people are getting older fast citing the demographic burden on the country: “The aging population is of grave importance as both a socioeconomic issue and a strain on the medical system … Currently, there is no effective drug for Alzheimer’s disease.”
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His current anticipated experiment involves fertilized egg cells not considered good for woman implantation.
The proposal noted: “No human embryo would be implanted for pregnancy and government permit and ethical approval were required before experimentation.”
His proposal is scientifically unsound, according to experts.
The Chinese government, citing his research, took steps to regulate gene editing and the ethical issues associated with it.
According to Chinese media reports, he was barred from working in reproductive technology services and was restricted from working with human genetic resources.
“The whole thing is, to put it bluntly, insane,” said Peter Dröge, an associate professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“Apart from ethical considerations, gene-editing an embryo to address a complex disease that affects people toward the end of their life and doesn’t have a clear, single genetic cause is highly questionable,” he said.
“He basically wants to genetically modify the human species so they don’t get Alzheimer’s,” he said.
“I’m really surprised that he’s coming forward with this again.”
Joy Zhang, founding director of the Centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice at the University of Kent in Britain, said the proposal seemed to be “more of a publicity stunt than a substantiated research agenda.”
“However, we do need to take these public claims with vigilance, as it may nevertheless misguide patients and their families, and tint the reputations not just of science in China, but global research effort in this area,” she said.
He said he was “collecting feedback from scientists and bioethicists now and did not have a timeline for the study.”
“I will make a revision to the Alzheimer’s disease proposal later. I will not conduct any experiments until I get the government permit, and also get the approval by an international ethics committee with bioethicists from USA and Europe,” he told CNN.
“I want to emphasize that this is a preclinical study, no embryo will be used for pregnancy in this study. The research will be open and transparent, and all experiment results and progress will be posted on Twitter,” he said.
