An international inquiry has been launched into human gene editing following the controversy over the activities of a Chinese doctor.
It opens the prospect, for the first time, of global supervision of a controversial and contentious scientific and medical area.
The World Health Organisation said its panel would be global and multi-disciplinary.
The membership of the panel is not yet known and WHO still has to approach prospective members.
WHO said it wanted guidelines that would promote “transparency and trustworthy practices.” This would include the development of mechanisms for oversight and governance.
Last month Dr He Jiankui claimed to have used CRISPR to amend the genes of live babies during IVF. He used a procedure to improve immunity against HIV.
His actions were disowned by the Chinese authorities and, according to recent reports, he has now disappeared from view.
A WHO statement said: “The recent application of tools such as CRISPR-Casp9 to edit the human genome have highlighted the need for the development of standards in this area.
“WHO’s expert working group will work in a consultative manner and build on existing initiatives.”
Leave a Reply