Jakarta –
In 2018, He Jiankui experimented with CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palyndromic Repeats) technology to modify human embryos and make them resistant to the HIV virus. This experiment led to the birth of twins, Lulu and Nana. A year later, a third baby named Amy was born, who was also genetically engineered.
Instead of receiving recognition or praise for his experiment, scientists, both in China and around the world, condemned Jiankui’s research. He was also thrown into prison in 2019 and fired from his campus, China’s Southern University.
Now, he is free. In the quoted interview detikINET from the South China Morning Post, he advised people to respect the two twins and let them live normally.
He said that nowadays, the children live a normal, peaceful and undisturbed life. “This is their wish and we must respect it,” he said.
Jiankui didn’t want their normal life to be disrupted because someone wanted to do research again for example. The top priority is their happiness and that of their families.
He also said it was his duty to continue to monitor the health status of the children as part of the approval for the research. “After the age of 18, children will decide whether to have medical follow-up for their individual needs. We are committed to doing this for the rest of their lives,” he said.
He wanted to buy additional health insurance for the children, but no insurance company would insure them after finding out that their genes were altered.
The scientist now wants to open a charity foundation to raise money for them in case of future unexpected medical expenses. Reflecting on his actions, he admits his mistake. “I did it too fast,” he said.
Watch Video “British Scientists Experiment to Create ‘Plastic-Eating’ Enzymes“
(fyk/fyk)
