Chinese Gene-Editing Experiment Loses Track of Patients, Alarming Technology’s Inventors

Chinese scientists have raced ahead in experimenting with gene-editing on humans in the last few years, using a powerful new tool called Crispr-Cas9 to edit the DNA of dozens of cancer patients. Information gathered by The Wall Street Journal shows one such trial has lost touch with patients whose DNA was altered, alarming some Western scientists who say subjects should be monitored for many years.

Chinese Gene-Editing Experiment Loses Track of Patients, Alarming Technology’s Inventors

A bit scary that these people are out in the wild and can spread their altered DNA by reproducing. I don't know a lot about this so it may not work like that, I hope not.

If it is possible, what if some harmful gene is dominate. It could cause damage to the whole of the human race in time. I don't think we should be messing around with stuff like this.

Either way it is not a good thing to lose track of the subjects of your experiments.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

So basically this is a bad 80s movie plot.

Good job China. Now we have to worry about your mutants breeding with everyone else and killing off the species.

a reply to: tadaman

Pretty much.
But it seems unlikely that any gene editing will manifest in gametes

You combine CRISPR with a bio-capable 3-d printer and you can pick your genes...problem is that if you get this far you have learned we are genetically capable of living to 600+ years old and that we have telepathy...but both things have been gene edited......lol.....there is no hiding these hidden truths anymore...and here is no way to slow down disclosure and make people pay to live longer....to much tech and computer power and ability for regular people to do amazing things right at home.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Chinese "scientists".

Real scientists have this thing called ethics.

China is looking really bad right now.

a reply to: projectvxn

And yet scientists and engineers have created the atomic bomb and/or repurposed and tweaked the likes of pesticides to make VX nerve gas.

It generally stands that if Man can do a thing, we will do that thing as we simply do not invent tools we do not use.

Even the spurious information gained from human experimentation during WW2 was put to a purpose, one of the end results being a Man on the Moon.

Science is above ethics, that's peoples domain, ones a tool, the other an apex predator.

Don't make what we do, or have done, correct all the same.

a reply to: andy06shake

Those weapons, while terrible, pale in comparison to the Pandora box of genetics manipulation.

a reply to: projectvxn

We have been playing around with eugenics and selective breeding for quite some time.

Genetic engineering is simply the next step and another tool, what we do with it is our own decision.

Suppose just like with the emergence of a true artificial intelligence it will either ultimately free us from the shackles of mortality or consign our species to oblivion.

That Jinn is out of the bottle though, don't really see us being able to push it back in, progress and humanities penchant for knowledge simply will never allow that to happen.

a reply to: andy06shake

I'm not a genetics technology opponent and you may have seen me advocating for GMOs and other avenues of genetic technologies. Those technologies are widely studied and their applications targeted and conservative.

CRISPR is a powerful tool. Like any tool, it can be abused. We often rely on regulatory agencies and the force of law to ensure tools like this are used within an ethical framework.

China has no such framework and their abuse of this tool can and likely will cause problems down the line that we are, as of yet, totally unequipped to deal with.

I'll leave you with this article:
Science Mag.org

The Chinese Society for Cell Biology issued a statement calling the research “a serious violation of the Chinese government’s laws and regulations and the consensus of the Chinese scientific community.”

While on its face it seems like the Chinese government condemns this, they actually don't. The Chinese Society for Cell Biology condemns it, but the government itself, regardless of their own laws, funded this research and its results.

This should be met with worldwide opposition and condemnation.

Eugenics is unethical. It's Progressive garbage from the early 20th century that people like Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood) adhered to in order to kill their way to genetic perfection. It's master race BS aimed at killing off minorities, the infirmed, or those with mental or physical disabilities.

I wish I could know just how many rogue scientists have been doing experiments that would make most People pass out!
I doubt this is even a tid bit of it.
I don't think we are meant to do these things another reason to know the end is near.

a reply to: projectvxn

Unfortunately Eugenics never really went away.

We just found more ""socially acceptable"" ways, such as austerity, poor diets, poverty and our inefficient health care system to weed out the undesirables.

"This should be met with worldwide opposition and condemnation."

I don't disagree there, just don't think it will help or address the problem, present, and future.

a reply to: andy06shake

Maybe not.

But most nations have a framework of ethical scientific work. Especially with regard to genetics research. China has a huge problem with scientific accountability.

a reply to: projectvxn

They also have off the books, offshore and underground facilities projects and labs to circumvent any ""ethical"" dilemma or prying eyes.

And if they don't the corporations sure do.

China is huge, so not much problem hiding much.

As to scientific accountability, well again we are back to atomics, and biological weaponry. The fact is both our respective nations don't have a leg to stand on nevermind a soapbox where condemnation of others is concerned.

So, the engineering is loose in the wild, what will mankind do now?

* Hunt them down and kill them?
* Hunt them down and sterilize them?
* Hunt them down and imprison them?
* Hunt them down and use them for more experiments?

Or

Just accept that they are humans too?

Wow China is not the only country on earth to have secret genetic modification programs.
There are plenty of programs to augment beyond the baseline in public domain.
If you think the USA doesnt have programs to make superhuman soldiers I suggest you google Darpa.

We were the first ones doing it and no we have not stopped.

Not only do we have enhanced soldiers but the GMO food has become the only food available.

(smile) and this is probably not the first time this has been done.Anyone want to guess what "greys" are?

Here is a clue: antediluvian.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

You can visit a clinic that makes you younger by giving you a transfusion of plasma harvested from the blood of youngsters.

www.businessinsider.com...

a reply to: FormOfTheLord

Truth is most of us have already augmented ourselves, intelligence and knowledge base, by way of the computers and network capabilities of our mobile devices, we carry around in our pockets.

Those phones, contain around 95% technologies designed for military purpose and applications, just some food for thought.

Future augmentation won't just be genetic by nature but a combination of biomechanical, cybernetics, and genetics.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

A bit scary that these people are out in the wild and can spread their altered DNA by reproducing. I don't know a lot about this so it may not work like that, I hope not.

Happens a lot closer to home with companies like Monsanto allowing there altered genetics to spread to wild populations.

originally posted by: purplemer
a reply to: LookingAtMars

A bit scary that these people are out in the wild and can spread their altered DNA by reproducing. I don't know a lot about this so it may not work like that, I hope not.

Happens a lot closer to home with companies like Monsanto allowing there altered genetics to spread to wild populations.

Yep the GMO foods lifestyle choices and the toxic materials in our environment will mutate us and leave a genetic marker on our DNA its called Epigenetics. These traits will be passed down to all of your future generations.

Am I worried about Crispr-Cas9 which was a voluntary procedure done in China to help someone live a better life? Hell no!
Am I worried about GMO foods and a toxic environment? Hell yes!

There is no accountability or even labeling to tell you which foods are GMO. There is no information about the what is in the water you drink nor the quality of air you breathe. The clothes we wear and the products we use are much more a thret. These are the things that I worry about.
Now even little babies are getting cancer the situation is fubar.
Did I drink flouide tap water kool-aid as a kid yeah I did, but I aint a kid no more.