Defiant Chinese scientist says SECOND woman pregnant with ‘gene-edited baby’ – and more are on the way

A CHINESE scientist who claimed to have created the world's first gene-edited babies has defended his controversial work – and says another experimental pregnancy has already begun.

The experiment – which supposedly resulted in the birth of gene-edited twin girls – has been branded "monstrous" by some experts.

Earlier this week, He Jiankui told the world that he had altered the DNA of embryos to create two babies that were protected against HIV, the AIDs virus.

There's been no hard evidence for the feat yet, as Jiankui says the parents of the twins want to remain anonymous.

This type of science is banned in the UK, because it's often considered unethical and unsafe. Unsurprisingly, Jiankui has faced heavy criticism over his experiment.

But speaking at a genome summit in Hong Kong, Jiankui said he was "proud" of his work.

He also said that "another potential pregnancy" of a gene-edited embryo was in its early stages.

There's plenty of scepticism around Jiankui's claims, given that there aren't even any photos of the twin girls.

Jiankui also failed to publish his work in a scientific journal, as would be normal procedure with such a monumental experiment.

And there's also confusion around why Jiankui decided to edit the baby genes to protect against HIV – rather than a disease that's more difficult to treat.

Jiankui claims to have altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments. This is believed to have resulted at least one birth – a pair of twin girls – and potentially a second pregnancy.

Prof Julian Savulescu, from the University of Oxford, said: "If true, this experiment is monstrous. These babies are genetic guinea pigs."

He added: "This experiment exposes healthy normal children to risks of gene editing for no real necessary benefit."

And Dr Sarah Chan, from the University of Edinburgh, called it a cheap publicity stunt and branded it "despicable".

According to Jiankui, the goal wasn't to cure or prevent inherited diseases.

Instead, he hoped to give the babies a natural trait that helps them resist future HIV infection.

Jiankui said that the parents didn't want to be identified or interviewed, and declined to say where they live – or even where the work was done.

But he did reveal that the girls were named Lulu and Nana, and were born "normal and healthy".

According to the BBC, the Shenzhen hospital said to have housed the project "denied doing so".

And Professor He's own university, the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, has said it was unaware of the project, and will investigate the claims.

Hundreds of Chinese scientists have taken to the local Weibo social media site to condemn the research too.

Speaking at the gene-editing conference in Hong Kong, Jiankui told the AP: "I feel a strong responsibility that' it's not just to make a first, but also make it an example."

"Society will decide what to do next."

Despite Jiankui's claims of a world-first, scientists are divided over whether the experiment should ever have happened.

Dr Kiran Musunuru, a gene-editing expert at the University of Pennsylvania, described it as "unconscionable", and called it an "experiment on human beings that is not morally or ethically defensible".

And Dr Eric Topol, of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, said: "This is far too premature.

"We're dealing with the operating instructions of a human being. It's a big deal."

But Harvard University's George Church said HIV is a "major and growing public health threat", and described the gene-editing experiment as "justifiable".

Chinese scientists were also responsible for creating the world's first gene-edited mice earlier this year.

The mice were able to live to adulthood, and even have offspring of their own.

It's illegal to create genetically-altered babies in the UK.

But earlier this year, the Nuffield Council of Bioethics said that changing a human embryo's DNA could be "morally permissible".

In a report, leading science ethicists suggested that it would need to be in the child's interests, and that it didn't work to deepen societal inequalities.

"It is our view that genome editing is not morally unacceptable in itself,” said Karen Yeung, a professor of law and ethics at the University of Birmingham, who chairs the Nuffield working group. There is no reason to rule it out in principle."

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