Scientist Who Gene-Hacked Human Babies Says Ethics Are "Holding Back" Scientific Progress

Image by Getty / Futurism It's been nearly three years since controversial Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui was released from prison for gene-hacking human babies — and now, he appears to be hitting back at the rules that led to his punishment. In a cryptic post on X that featured a photo of the scientist blankly staring directly into the camera, He wrote that "ethics is holding back scientific innovation and progress." Though he doesn't mention it directly, that post seems like a clear reference to the ethical standards that made his 2018 gene-hacking experiments — which saw him using CRISPR to edit the DNA of twin girls pseudonymously known as "Lulu" and "Nana" in an attempt to make them immune to HIV — the source of global public outcry. After He announced that he'd created the world's first so-called "CRISPR babies" and that they'd been born seemingly without defect, the experiments were widely denounced as unethical to the point of abomination. In 2019, the scientist was arrest ... Read full article.