CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

MARTIN ŠOLC CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ which carried out a preliminary investigation confirmed the birth of the babies and accused Jiankui of breaking Chinese laws by forging ethical review papers and carrying out the gene editing itself 56 . The Chinese government even announced the establishment of an extensive punishment system for scientists who break the rules of scientific conduct, which would include restricting their access to even non-academic jobs 57 . Jiankui’s case is interesting also from the viewpoint of ethics of scientific conduct. The authoritarian Chinese regime uses science to enhance its economic and political power as well as national prestige. There are significant incentives for scientists to achieve excellence, be the best in international competition, and come up with breakthroughs. At the time of the announcement of the experiment, He Jiankui was 34 years old 58 . Especially for younger researchers, it might be very difficult not to be absorbed by individual ambitions strongly encouraged by the state. At the same time, China has been trying to show the world it is not only a country of some of the best scientific centres but also a reliable partner who respects ethics. This tension between the sacrifice of ethics on the altar of efficacy at home and a mask of ethical behaviour shown to the rest of the world might have given rise to both Jiankui’s experiment and the government’s harsh response. 59 2. The Stance of the Scientific Community After the first gene editing of human embryos (whichwere not used to establish pregnancy), the first International Summit on Human Gene Editing took place in December 2015 60 . At the end of the Summit, there was issued the official statement summarising the conclusions of the Summit in four points 61 . First, the Summit called for an “[i]ntensive basic and preclinical research (…) on (i) technologies for editing genetic sequences in human cells, (ii) the potential benefits and risks of proposed clinical uses, and (iii) understanding the biology of human embryos and germline cells” . It was explicitly stated that “ [i]f, in the process of research, early human ArQTUG2> accessed 27 May 2019. 56 See ZHANG, Phoebe. China confirms birth of gene-edited babies, blames scientist He Jiankui for breaking rules. South China Morning Post. (21 January 2019.) accessed 27 May 2019. 57 See CYRANOSKI, David. China introduces “social” punishments for scientific misconduct. Nature News. (14 December 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 58 See JOSEPH, Andrew, ROBBINS, Rebecca, BEGLEY, Sharon. An outsider claimed tomake genome-editing history – and the world snapped to attention. STAT. (26 November 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 59 For a brief analysis of this problem, see NIE, Jing-Bao. He Jiankui’s Genetic Misadventure: Why Him? Why China? The Hastings Center . (5 December 2018.) accessed 27 May 2019. 60 The Summit was organised by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the Royal Society, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and took place in Washington, DC from 1 to 3 December 2015. See The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. International Summit on Human Gene Editing: A Global Discussion. (2015.) accessed 30 May 2019. 61 Organizing Committee for the International Summit on Human Gene Editing. On Human Gene Editing: International Summit Statement. Available at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (3 December 2015.) accessed 30 May 2019.

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