Paul Rolland | Night Watchman Ministries | MbS and the Evil Trinity of Technology.
https://youtu.be/nwHMvdnAMNE
China’s new human gene-editing rules worry experts
Pallab Ghosh – Science correspondent Tue, March 7, 2023 at 4:34 AM EST BBC News
New rules in China to regulate gene editing in humans don’t go far enough, a leading expert has warned scientists.
Dr Joy Zhang of Kent University, a global expert on the governance of gene editing in China, said authorities are susceptible to “regulatory negligence”.
The regulations were updated following an outcry five (5) years ago when a Chinese scientist said he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies.
China says the new laws are in line with international rules.
They set requirements for ethical approval, supervision and inspection, but experts worry that they may not apply to the private sector.
Dr Zhang, one of the main speakers at an international human genome-editing summit in London, told BBC News: “My biggest concern is that the new measures fail to cover a chronic and increasing problem in trying to deal with private ventures that are taking place outside of conventional scientific institutes.
“The new rules may struggle to keep up with the burgeoning innovation that is happening in China.”
Gene editing is a new technique that enables scientists to make precise changes to DNA. Scientists believe it could be used to correct many inherited diseases.
It is controversial, though, because it raises the possibility of making permanent changes to a person’s genetic make-up that will be passed down to their offspring.
A controversial experiment
The world’s leading scientists in the field were stunned when Dr He Jiankui, from Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, claimed five years ago that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies – twins nicknamed Lulu and Nana.
The girls’ DNA had been altered while they were at an early embryonic stage in a way that Dr He claimed would make them resistant to HIV infection.
He was fined and sentenced to three years in prison in 2019. No-one, other than Dr He, has had access to the twins. But at a recent scientific meeting, he said they were in good health.
Upon his release, it emerged last month that he was planning to set up a clinic in Hong Kong to research using gene editing to develop a treatment for children with a rare inherited muscular disorder, called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Immigration officials announced that they had rescinded his visa after they discovered he had a criminal record.
The new rules close the loopholes that enabled Dr He to evade regulations, which previously only applied to experiments on human beings in hospitals, for example for drug trials. The updated regulations cover all research institutions and everything relating to humans, including work on tissues, organs and embryonic cells.
The summit organiser, Prof Robin Llovell-Badge, from the Crick Institute, where the meeting is being held, said he was concerned that there was still too much secrecy in Chinese research.
”I understand why China wants to be leaders in technology, but there are some areas that require special attention and gene editing is one of them,” he said.
”It has to be done properly and with the appropriate governance and oversight, and I’m concerned that they are not there yet.”
Speaking at the summit, Dr Yangin Peng, of the Chinese Academy of Science, said the government has “accelerated” laws and regulations in gene editing.
“China has considerably tightened its legislation and regulations,” he said. “Permanent, inherited changes are banned, governance has adopted a precautionary approach and our laws are in line with international rules.”
Dr Francoise Baylis, a Canadian bioethicist from Dalhousie University, said she wanted more details of the updates to China’s rules.
”I saw [that in the updated rules] research should be in line with ethical principles. I would want to know which ethical principles, where they are set out and whether they are open to questioning,” she said.
She added that China was not alone in grappling with how to regulate the private sector.
”We have similar issues in North America, so I think it is wrong to focus on China,” she said.
Dr Piers Millett, of the International Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative, based in Washington, acknowledged that: ”China is probably leading the way in revising the rules in this area.”
Many scientists have wondered how Dr He could be allowed to return to clinical research after serving time in prison.
“I, like many people, had been wondering whether there had been an individual or institution in China that had been backing or protecting He Jiankui,” said Dr Zhang.
But she said she now thought that “we are looking at a simple case of regulatory negligence”.
That led her to believe that “without getting clarifications on Dr He’s case, the recent talk of good governance is hypocritical”.
“I worry less about what He Jiankui is up to, and more about the Chinese authorities are doing,” she said.
But how can they call on him (Jesus Christ) to save them unless they believe in him (Jesus Christ)? And how can they believe in him (Jesus Christ) if they have never heard about him (Jesus Christ)? And how can they hear about him (Jesus Christ) unless someone tells them?” —Romans 10:14
In His Service,
Night Watchman
Paul Rolland
Night Watchman Ministries
Make Your Decision for Christ NOW!!!!!!! Time is Up!!!!!!!
Jesus Christ’s Offer of Salvation:
The ABCs of Salvation through Jesus Christ (the Lamb)
A. Admit/Acknowledge/Accept that you are sinner. Ask God’s forgiveness and repent of your sins.
. . . “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
. . . “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
B. Believe Jesus is Lord. Believe that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be; that He was both fully God and fully man and that we are saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. Put your trust in Him as your only hope of salvation. Become a son or daughter of God by receiving Christ.
. . . “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:15-17). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
C. Call upon His name, Confess with your heart and with your lips that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
. . . “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10).
. . . “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (John 1:8-10).
. . . “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (John 2:2).
. . . “In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:9, 14-15).
. . . “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10).
. . . “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
. . . “Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).
. . . “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 1:16).
. . . “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts: 4:12).
. . . “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).
. . . “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
. . . “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).
True Church / Bride of Christ Spared from God’s Wrath:
Romans 5:8-10. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
Romans 12:19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Jeremiah 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.