In another step down the slippery slope of genetic engineering, Chinese researchers have been reported to be experimenting with monkeys by adding in some human brain genes, to see the effect on monkey brains and intelligence.
According to www.technologyreview.com/…, scientists in southern China report that they’ve tried to narrow the evolutionary gap between primates and humans, by creating several transgenic macaque monkeys with extra copies of a human gene suspected of playing a role in shaping human intelligence. According to their findings, the modified monkeys did better on a memory test involving colors and block pictures, and their brains also took longer to develop—as those of human children do. There wasn’t a difference in brain size.
This experiment used viruses instead of CRISPR gene-editing technology to inject the human gene MCPH1 (microcephalin) into monkey embryos and then allowed the monkeys to develop naturally. Eleven monkeys with the modified genome were born, but only five survived. The surviving monkeys each have between two and nine copies of the human gene in their bodies.
The objective of the group performing the experiments is to identify the genes that separate humans from primates, whose genes are about 98% similar to ours, not to create a breed of smart monkeys. But, as in fiction and in real life, there are unintended consequences.
I suppose this is one way to understand brain development and evolution, but it raises all sorts of ethical issues in how far we want gene based tinkering of life to go. These sorts of experiments would not be allowed in the West, but China is a different story. Besides, can these sorts of experiments really be prevented across the world? Are we playing “God”? Do we have the wisdom o play “God”?
Yet another Pandora’s box has been opened.
The allusion to the Planet of the Apes is certainly one that immediately jumps into everyone’s mind. In the story, scientists at a biotech company test a viral-based drug ALZ-112 on chimpanzees in the search for a cure for Alzheimer's disease, but the drug substantially increases the intelligence level of the primates … the rest is history in the story.
This is hardly the first ethics-breaking foray by the Chinese into using gene and CRISPR technology for research into humans and primates. Earlier this year, it was reported that Chinese researchers cloned five gene-edited monkeys using CRISPR technology with a host of genetic diseases, for bio-medical research. These monkeys exhibited a wide-range of circadian disorder phenotypes, including reduced sleep time, elevated night-time locomotive activities, dampened circadian cycling of blood hormones, increased anxiety and depression, as well as schizophrenia-like behaviors. www.eurekalert.org/...
Late last year, Chinese scientist He Jiankui claimed to have successfully altered the DNA of twin girls, whose father is HIV-positive, to prevent them from contracting the virus, using CRIPSR gene-editig technology.
This is a fun and serious topic to discuss. In the midst of trump madness, now we have this.
What do you think? Should the world put some hard limits on how genetic engineering should be used? Should we let science seek its own way and we will figure out how to manage the risks, because it cannot be chained anyways? Do we have a right to treat other life forms as objects to be manipulated for our use? Is the average scientist so burdened with the competition for fame and grants, that there is no room for ethical issues and worries about the misuse of their inventions?
We, as a nation, were at the forefront of setting international standards, agreements and safeguards. No more, as the hyenas have taken over the government and the population is falling behind in math and science.
Perhaps the benefits will outweigh the harm caused by occasional unethical researchers. Perhaps, this is just another step in human evolution and we should let it run its course, damn the consequences.