Geneva
(AFP) - The WHO announced Thursday it will create a global registry to track
research into human genetic manipulation, after a call to halt all work on
germline genome editing -- used in China last year to genetically modify twin
baby girls.
"New
genome editing technologies hold great promise and hope for those who suffer
from diseases we once thought untreatable," the World Health
Organization's Director General for told the body's genome editing oversight
committee meeting in Geneva.
"But
some uses of these technologies also pose unique and unprecedented challenges
-– ethical, social, regulatory and technical,” he added.
Chinese
scientist He Jiankui's announcement last November that he had altered the DNA
of twins girls in southern China by using molecular scissors -- ostensibly to
prevent them from contracting HIV.
He was then
fired from his university, put under police investigation and ordered to halt
his work.
But his
announcement provoked a global backlash from scientists saying the untested
procedure was unethical and potentially dangerous and in December the WHO set
up an expert committee to look into the matter.
About 30
nations currently have legislation directly or indirectly barring all clinical
use of germline editing.
WHO chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that countries should not allow any
further work on human germline genome editing "until the technical and
ethical implications have been properly considered", the WHO said in a
statement.
Accepting
the recommendation of its 18-member expert committee, WHO announced plans for
an initial phase of the registry to include both germline and somatic clinical
trials
Somatic
mutations occur in a single body cell and cannot be inherited while germline
mutations can be passed onto offspring.
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