China Ready to Introduce Gene-Editing regulation in the Wake of the CRISPR Baby Uproar

China is all ready and set to impose a new regulation upon the editing of genes among humans. Human genes and embryos are mentioned in a personality right protection section in a draft of China’s new civil code.

The experiments on human genes that are capable of damaging human health or go against ethical norms are considered to be a direct violation of basic human rights.

According to Zheng Peng, a criminal law lawyer at the Beijing Wuzi University, people researching on human genes and embryos cannot endanger human health or commit a violation of ethics.

Since the year 2002, China has been revising its civil code. This legal framework deals with areas such as marriage, personal right protection, and inheritance. The latest draft of the civil code has been presented to the chief legislative body: the standing committee of National People’s Congress and it is supposed to be acted upon by the next year.

Interestingly, the inclusion of gene editing in the final draft of the new civil code was a last-minute addition before it was forwarded to the higher authorities. It is a direct outcome of the controversy that became prominent after a Chinese physicist He Jiankui claimed to have developed a pair of genetically modified twins.

He claimed to have conducted experiments of human embryos, which, according to him, resulted in the birth of two twin baby girls whose DNA had been modified in a way that it cannot contract HIV or similar diseases.

His statement resulted in a major controversy, not only in China but all across the globe. Consequently, he was sacked from his job at the Southern University of Science and Technology. Although He Jiankui was censured by the authorities, it is still unclear whether or not he violated the law.

According to the new civil code, experimentations on human embryos can be conducted, but not the expense of human health or life. The new civil code provides the subjects of experimentation complete freedom, privacy and right to self-integrity. This is the first time that a regulation related to human genomes has been added to a civil code.

In March of 2019, the ministry of health drafted special regulations, which demand scientists to seek permissions before conducting experiments on human embryos. Furthermore, anyone who conducts an experiment on human genes without permission will be penalized.