On the sidelines of the conference of young scientists, Russian academician Olga Dontsova spoke about whether genetically modified children could appear in Russia.
4 years ago, the world witnessed a deafening noise as twin girls (Lulu) and (Nana) were born in China, and they were genetically “modified” even before birth. The babies were born from a test tube, but after in vitro fertilization, several sections of the twins’ genome were cut out and the embryo was implanted in the uterus. The girls’ father was HIV-positive, but their mother was not. This made Lulu and Nana immune to HIV, and this immunity, as planned, should be inherited by their children.
Perhaps the author of the unique experiment was counting on the fact that the Chinese geneticist (He Jiankui), who spoke at the international conference, would gain international fame. However, she received international condemnation, as it was said that “People are not machines! Is it reasonable that in the coming days there should be a queue of parents who want to genetically modify their children according to their” projects “? A serious scandal broke out experiments in the People’s Republic of China Republic where an experimental scientist was imprisoned.
What about Lulu and Nana? – The family has been kept secret all this time: no one knows the names of the parents, but the names of the two daughters are pseudonyms. At the same time, information was leaked to the media that the two daughters look normal, do not suffer from health problems, and both are under the constant supervision of scientists. According to media reports, China even wants to establish a special research center to study them, because it is not known what this bold experiment on children will result in.
What is the position of Russian scientists regarding genetically modified children? A discussion on this topic took place on the sidelines of the conference of young scientists, which took place on December 1-3 in Sochi, Russia.
Olga Dontsova, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor at the Russian University of Skoltykh, said: “Everything is possible in life, but we cannot always calculate what will happen. At this stage in the development of science, I will not dare to interfere with this complex mechanism that is a person.
Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences Alexander Khabibov added: “Often, even when a gene responsible for something in a mouse is replaced, or a gene with an altered function is turned on (inserted), it turns out that the mouse is far from what scientists expected. And sometimes not.” Changes occur at all, and sometimes there is a group of side effects, up to death. various. Therefore, transgenic children are not impossible at the level of world science, but our knowledge is necessary to achieve them. So far, that’s not enough.”
Source: Komsomolskaya Pravda
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