The 2018 CBCGDF Board meeting was held recently. On the recent “Gene-edited Babies” incident in China, as well as the ethical issues related to the latest scientific frontier such as AI and robotics, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF Dr. Zhou Jinfeng recommended to establish the CBCGDF Biology and Science Ethics (BASE) Committee and made detailed explanations on its importance.

In November 2018, the “Gene-edited Babies” incident in China caused widespread concern in the academic community and society, especially causing legal and ethical controversy. Once the "Gen-edited Babies" incident was announced, it immediately attracted many questions. The academic community responded intensively: "For any attempt at the current stage without rigorous ethics and safety reviews, rashly trying to make genetically editable human embryonic gene editing, we as biomedical researchers, resolutely opposed!!! Strongly condemned!!!

At the end of November, the heads of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China and China Association for Science and Technology expressed in interviews with the media: The nature of this incident is extremely bad. The relevant units have been required to suspend the research activities of relevant personnel and resolutely investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations.

There are some organizations and people in the international community who have questioned this as an unethical and non-respecting science incident promoted by the Chinese government. Although the Chinese government authorities and relevant scientific research institutions have responded to this incident separately, the international community remains highly concerned about the incident.

As a national first-level society in the field of biodiversity conservation in China, CBCGDF has received many inquiries from the international agencies on the incident and was asked about the attitude of CBCGDF.

Human research on gene editing technology in the field of life sciences has developed rapidly. In addition to research around animals, scientists have also drawn attention to the study of human diseases through gene editing. A genetic editing company in the United States recently announced that it will launch a clinical trial using CRISPR gene editing technology to treat hereditary eye disease, and the application has been accepted by US regulatory authorities. It is reported that in this clinical trial, the object of gene editing is a somatic cell, not a germ cell. The genetic information of somatic cells is not passed on to the next generation, so ethical issues are not involved.

After all, human concerns about the rapid development of genetic technology and concerns about this development involving ethical bottom line issues exist in parallel. In response to the international community's concern about the "Gene-edited Babies" incident, in December 2018, CBCGDF Biology and Science Ethics (BASE) Working Group held a special conference call on gene editing, farm animal welfare, animal ethics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and hot topics such as ethics were discussed and exchanged, and discussed with German bioethics experts the specific preparations for the CBCGDF BASE Committee were also launched during the meeting.

Dr. Zhou said at the board meeting that genetic editing and biodiversity conservation are closely related to research work. CBCGDF, as a professional foundation in this field, should indicate voice and attitude. At the same time, it is not comprehensive and lacks enough representation to transmit own voice only within CBCGDF. Through the establishment of the CBCGDF BASE Committee platform, academicians and experts from home and abroad are invited to come up with opinions, conduct discussions, and absorb public opinions, and timely feedback relevant information to the relevant departments of the China Association for Science and Technology, and to the international community. It is necessary for the society to issue professional voices from social organizations in China. The establishment of this BASE Committee can also continue to serve the government, scientists, and society. CBCGDF has fully communicated with the academicians and experts of the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) on this work and will continue to seek the opinions of experts in various fields in a scientific and rigorous manner.

The Board heard the report of Dr. Zhou and unanimously adopted the recommendation.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/7073.html