Japan Allows Gene Editing for Research Following China’s Gene-Edited Babies’ Controversy

The Japanese government in draft guidelines has said that gene editing can be done for research purposes only. However, births as a result of gene-editing are still forbidden. The Japanese government came up with these guidelines after a Chinese scientist Dr. He Jiankui claimed to produce genetically modified babies.

According to a set of rules endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, and Technology, Injecting genetically altered zygotes to human and animal wombs would be prohibited. According to this set of rules, research will be restricted to things like infertility treatment only.

A member of the bioethics commission attended a summit in Hong Kong where Mr. He Jiankui said that the first set of genetically modified twins was born because of his research. Mr. He faced severe criticism from the torchbearers of safety and ethics, after his claims of producing a set of genetically altered twins. The primary goal behind limiting gene editing to research is to prevent similar issues.

To be effective, the guidelines need to be approved not only by the Ministry of Health and Labor but from the cabinet as well.

No one knows much about the development of fertilized eggs in the initial stages of human life. Gene-editing will help comprehensively elaborate on the process. It could even help improve treatment options to deal with infertility.

The zygotes that would be used for experimentation for infertility treatment would be left out and disposed of after two weeks of fertilization. This does not include the time they spend in cold storage. Discussion on research in dealing with cancer and hereditary diseases will be done later.

There are two stages where the research pans will be inspected. According to the guidelines, the donors must be explained the reasons why the research is being conducted, and how the eggs will be handled.

However, no penalties have been mentioned in the rules about violators. Furthermore, there is no regulation for doctors at hospitals who use genome editing for treatments.

All across the globe, research on this subject matter has accelerated through the years. Yet the technology hasn’t fully matured and gene editing can cause side effects.

China started to study this technology for the treatment of hereditary diseases back in 2015. Similarly, US researchers have managed to replicate tests for editing genes related to genetic heart diseases. These treatments would become more effective if the genes are removed at the zygote stage.

Both the researches have stopped for it is forbidden under the law to return zygotes to the mothers’ wombs.