Experts call for an international agreement not to use hereditary genetic editions in the clinic

2019/03/13 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Genetika

Experts from seven countries ask for an agreement not to use hereditary genetic editions in the clinic. Among the signatories are Emmanuelle Charpentier and Feng Zhang, who developed the CRISPR editing technique and which has been endorsed by the US Institute of Health NIH.

In their paper, published in the journal Nature, experts have pointed out that in view of the events of the last three years, the case of two genetically modified children, for example, in China, see it necessary to agree internationally the non-application of these techniques in the clinic. Thus, according to these Experts, it would not be necessary to make a genetic edition in sperm, eggs and embryos until it is shown that the technique is at least safe and what acceptable uses can be agreed. In addition, they point out that to decide when to start using these techniques in the clinic, the opinion of society should be taken into account.

On the other hand, they have made it clear that the agreement they propose would not limit the use of these techniques for research, nor the use of genetic editing in the clinic in somatic cells to treat diseases.