BIOETHICS DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

“Covert Human Experimentation”

“Scorching International Condemnation”

“Sequestered Researcher under Government Surveillance”

“Rogue Scientist Fired, Fined, Jailed”

These captions could well highlight the latest plot sequence in a Netflix action movie. Instead, they describe real-life events which have transpired recently on the international stage of human genetic engineering.

In November 2018, Chinese researcher, Dr. He Jiankui [1], from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, stunned an international gathering [2] of scientists when he announced that he had altered the DNA of twin embryos to make them resistant to developing HIV – a disease their father had acquired. Dr. He performed this procedure soon after fertilizing their mother's eggs with their father’s sperm using in vitro fertilization (IVF). The babies were reportedly born healthy, although recent evidence points to likely deficiencies in the genetic editing. (Delgado, 2019) [3]

Scientists immediately condemned Dr. He’s work, citing that the relatively new CRISPR-cas9 gene-editing tool he used was unsafe in humans, that standard research guidelines were disregarded, and that Dr. He ignored international consensus against human germline (heritable) genome editing [4].

Consequently, Dr. He’s teaching and research activities were terminated [5]. The prestigious Nature and JAMA journals refused to publish his research, and the Chinese government sentenced him to three years in prison and fined him $430,000.

The Catholic ‘Screenplay’ Would Have Played Out Differently...

Had Dr. He considered his actions through the lens of Church teaching, the outcome would have been quite different, and the storyline would not have included directing innocent human lives towards an uncertain and potentially disastrous fate.

His experiments would have been deemed illicit if evaluated in light of core Church values and teachings related to human life, sexuality, and good research practices, including the:

• Inherent dignity and right to life owed to all human beings from conception onward [6]
• Inseparability of the unitive and procreative aspects of intercourse [7]
• Grave moral issues associated with IVF, as expressed in Dignitas Personae [8], including an embryo mortality rate of 85-98% [9]
• Rejection of harm-inducing experimentation on live human embryos [10]
• Rejection of genetic research on human embryos [11]
• Rejection of non-medically necessary genetic ‘enhancements’ in humans [12]

If Dr. He had embraced these life-affirming Catholic tenets, he would still be a respected researcher in good standing, and two innocent children would not be facing a potentially tragic drama in their very-real, genetically-altered lives.