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- CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: A passionate debate is taking place worldwide over claims that genetically human children were recently born in China.
- I`m Carl Azuz. This is CNN 10.
- Here`s how the debate got started. A Chinese scientist named He Jiankui, he`s an associate professor at a Chinese university, announced earlier this
- week that a pair of twin girls was born this month after their embryos were altered to make them resistant to human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.
- Their parents, according to Professor He, volunteered for the experiment. The father is believed to carry HIV.
- Professor He also appeared to suggest that a third genetically modified baby is possible that the pregnancy is in the early stages.
- How could this be done?
- Professor He claims to have used CRISPR, a genetic editing tool, to alter the twins` DNA. Researchers say CRISPR makes it possible to change a
- particular part of someone`s genome, or delete a gene altogether.
- But the idea of a genetically edited child is highly controversial. For one thing, some scientists doubt this even happened. The research hasn`t
- been independently confirmed. For another, American biologist and Nobel Prize recipient David Baltimore says genetic editing is irresponsible until
- it`s proven to be safe and effective, and it hasn`t yet. Baltimore also says genetically modifying someone to be resistant to HIV isn`t necessary
- since there are other treatments available for the disease that attacks the immune system.
- A group of Chinese scientists spoke out against the research, suggesting that experimenting on a human is unethically and crazy. And there are
- concerns about the consequences of gene editing. A scientist who helped invent CRISPR says when you change one thing, something else gets changed
- too, and it`s not known yet what kinds of effects this could have on the Chinese twins.
- For his part, the associate professor says he`s proud of his alleged achievement because the parents had, quote, lost hope for life, but now,
- the father plans to work hard and take care of his wife and two daughters.
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