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A U.S. research group has created what appears to be the world’s first genetically modified human embryo. Although the experiment was published several months ago, it has surfaced now in the context of a legislative debate in the United Kingdom.

CGS Associate Director Marcy Darnovsky said, “A small group of researchers decided on its own to overstep a key ethical boundary that has been observed around the world, with no discussion by the public, the media, or policy makers. These scientists have not provided a convincing scientific justification for this experiment, yet they are developing techniques that could push us toward a GATTACA-like world (1) without public debate.”

Several dozen countries, including nearly all industrialized nations, prohibit efforts to modify the genes of future generations.  In the United States, there is no such regulation.

Scientists at Cornell University published a short account of their experiment in September 2007 in the journal Fertility and Sterility. (2)  It was reported this weekend by The Sunday Times. (3)  The experiment at Cornell was undertaken without public, policy, or media debate.

Darnovsky continued, “The fact that this highly questionable experiment is only coming to light now shows why a system of national regulatory oversight is so overdue, and why global agreements on unacceptable applications of biotechnology are needed.”

In the UK, research and assisted reproduction procedures involving human embryos produced outside the body are licensed and overseen by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority. Revisions to the 1990 law that are currently being debated would permit experiments similar to the one at Cornell, but maintain the prohibition on placing a genetically modified human body into a woman’s body in an effort to produce a “designer baby.”

Attention was called to the Cornell study by the British civil society organization Human Genetics Alert. Its director, Dr. David King, has called on the UK government to halt its plans to legalize genetically modified human embryos in the legislation that will be debated in Parliament this week.

The Center for Genetics and Society is a public affairs and policy advocacy organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human biotechnologies.

1  GATTACA is the well-known 1997 film depicting a near-future society in which genetic technologies produce a divided world of the “genetically enhanced” and what the film terms the “In-valids.”

2   “Genetic Modification of Preimplantation Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cells by Recombinant Lentiviral Vectors,” Fertility and Sterility, Volume 88, Supplement 1, September 2007, Page S310  N. Zaninovic, J. Hao, J. Pareja, D. James, S. Rafii, Z. Rosenwaks.  

3  “Scientist team creates first GM human embryo,” The Sunday Times, Sarah-Kate Templeton, May 11, 2008.

Contact:
Marcy Darnovsky
510-625-0819 x305