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The mystery surrounding I Jiankui
The chinese scientist I have Jiankui, creator of the first baby genetically modified, has been sentenced this morning to three years in prison and to pay a fine of three billion yuan (380.000 euros). A court in Shenzhen has been declared guilty of “conduct, illegally, the edition genetics of several human embryos for reproductive purposes”. The information put forward by the official news agency, Xinhua, also confirms that there were three children born as a result of the experiment.
I have Jiankui, known to the root of the event as “the Frankenstein chinese”, announced in November 2018 which had manipulated two human embryos by means of a technique of edition genetics, known as CRISPR, with the purpose to achieve that they were immune to the aids virus. The twins, who received the names of Lulu and Nana, had been born “weeks ago” and were “in perfect health”.
After two days of silence, the geneticist, an employee of the University of Science and Technology of Shenzhen and trained in american universities, Rice and Stanford, admitted the existence of a third fertilization, in a scientific meeting held in Hong Kong. “I’m proud, I’m orgullosísimo”, declared then.
I have Jiankui then faced a huge amount of criticism on the part of their colleagues, the majority of which put in doubt his claims and expressed regret at their lack of ethics at the time of carrying out an illegal procedure in most countries of the world, China among them. The protests were joined by the Nobel prize in Medicine David Baltimore, who called her actions “irresponsible”. 122 academics from the scientific community in china have released a joint statement in which they stated that “any attempt” to make changes in human embryos using genetic modifications is “crazy”, and that the birth of these infants represented “a high risk”.
on Monday, the court in Shenzhen has ruled that I have “craved fame and fortune”, and jumped “national regulations on scientific research and medical management of deliberate way”. The judgment also states that I have used forged documents and provided false information, “surpassing all the lines ethical”, so as to achieve the implantation of the embryos genetically modified.
Next to him, have been sentenced to two collaborators, Zhang Yili and Qin Jinzhou, workers of two medical institutions of the area. The three defendants have agreed to the charges. Also, several people involved in the procedure, whose final number has not transpired, have been included in black lists and will be banned for life from performing any other job related to the medical world.
