China’s gene-edited babies experiment violated western ethics norms. But China is writing is own.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo

• Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the world with his recent claim that he modified the genes of two babies.
• However, his methods of achieving a medical breakthrough are consistent with China’s culture of innovation at any cost.
• While many scientists follow Western standards of medicine and innovation, China may decide to go its own way — threatening what we view as ethical.

The world was shocked by Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s recent claim that he’d brought to term twin babies whose genes — inheritable by their own potential descendants — he had modified as embryos. The genetic edit, He said, was meant to make the girls resistant to HIV infection.

Scientists within China and across the world responded to the announcement with a mixture of incredulity and alarm.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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