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Feng Zhang, one of the inventors of the gene-editing technique CRISPR, has called for a global moratorium on using the technology to create gene-edited babies.
The call from Zhang, a member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, comes a day after a Chinese researcher claims to have created twin girls with modified genes to make them resistant to HIV.
“Given the current state of the technology, I am in favor of a moratorium on implantation of edited embryos,” Zhang said in a statement provided to MIT Technology Review.
The researchers in the Chinese trial edited human embryos to remove a gene called CCR5, which they said would make the children resistant to HIV. The study was carried out in secrecy, however, and medical experts question whether it was necessary or safe.
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Zhang said the risks of the experiment outweigh the benefits and said he was “deeply concerned” that the...