Too early to allow pregnancies with genome edited embryos, says commission

An international commission has concluded that editing of embryo genomes is not yet ready to be performed safely and effectively in humans.1

The commission was set up in the wake of a Chinese researcher’s controversial announcement in November 2018 that twins had been born after genome editing he had performed on early embryos.2 The researcher, He Jiankui, faced widespread criticism and was eventually sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a Chinese court.3

After reviewing the scientific literature on CRISPR and other ways to modify DNA, the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing concluded, “There should be no attempt to establish a pregnancy with a human embryo that has undergone genome editing unless and until it has been clearly …