1c : interview

By Xingyu Gao (Nicole)

Background: interview with an obstetrician-gynecologist

Professor Huang is an expert in reproductive medicine who is currently a professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University. Speaking of genetic modification in clinical using, she knows a lot and holds her own opinion. While asking her whether genetic engineering is widely use, she nodded. According to the data(Zhang, 2018), the birth defect rate in China is as high as 5.6%, and the number of birth defects is about 900,000 per year. The annual economic loss caused by birth defects in China exceeds 20 billion yuan. Government has established three precaution methods for birth defects but they are still not enough to prevent giving birth to a defective baby, therefore the significance of genetic editing is obvious. Here, birth defects refer to the general term of various structural malformations and functional abnormalities at birth caused by congenital, hereditary and adverse environment(EMORY, 2008), as fact suggests, there are 30% of them are caused by hereditary. Professor Huang demonstrated the significance of these new technologies in controlling birth defects with success stories in several clinical applications. Last year, Ms. Yang, a mother who seeking for children extremely difficult came to professor Huang. Ms. Yang lost her children three times before, as a result of carrying the pathogenic gene. Professor Huang used PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) technology to block the pathogenic gene and eventually had a healthy baby girl, she told Ms. Yang that the genetic disease of her family will be no longer exist in the future. This is a typical example of genetic editing in China which In terms of gene editing, some domestic fields are also at the forefront of the world, including genetic editing techniques for hereditary diseases. However, the technology has relative risks include technical and ethical risks. In recent years, with the popularization of gene editing technology, especially the molecular scissors technology CRISPR-Cas9 technology, there are more and more ethical and moral disputes on the transformation of human genes. Professor Huang believes that genetic editing should continue under appropriate legal and ethical supervision. In specific, if genetic editing of early human embryos or germ cells is performed in the study, the modified cells should not be used for pregnancy purposes.

There is a case happened in June 2018 in the north of china (TMTPOST, 2018), a woman recognized the positive result of prenatal examination, so she didn’t take further test on the advice of doctors, but eventually gave birth to a baby with birth defects and as a result in tragedy. Therefore, I have a question that can DNA examination be accepted and become the most credible test? Professor Huang said that it would not be a problem in the future, the result can be much more accurate as the technology is developing. Opportunities and challenges are simultaneously unfolding in front of human beings, and in the case that human beings are not fully prepared at the technical, legal, and ethical levels, every step we take must be careful, because it is impossible to be God.

References:

Dan, Z. 2018, “China researching rising birth defects as ease on child limits contributes to older mothers”, Global Times, viewed 15/10/2018

Department of Human Genetics, 2008, “Genetic Population Risk for Birth Defects”, EMORY University School of Medicine