GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Is China Effectively Reforming Its Biotechnology Laws?

Edward Perello

Board of Contributors

Dec 6, 2019 | 11:00 GMT

This Dec. 26, 2018, photo shows a researcher working in a Beijing Genomics Institute laboratory in Kunming, China.

A researcher works in a Beijing Genomics Institute laboratory in Kunming, China, on Dec. 26, 2018. China has publicized a series of new regulations since a Chinese scientist claimed to have genetically engineered twins last year, but has not accounted for the scientist's alleged feat.

(Visual China Group via Getty Images)

Highlights

Chinese scientist He Jiankui claimed last year that he had used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to engineer twins with immunity to HIV, raising new doubts about the ethical integrity of China's biotechnology sector.
To address its apparent shortcomings and support its biotech strategy, China has announced a series of regulations and legal reforms over the past year to reinforce existing prohibitions against reproductive human genome editing.
Despite the public campaign to counteract negative impressions, China has offered no full accounting of how He managed his alleged feat; how effectively Beijing has addressed the conditions that allowed it to happen is unknown.

Since news broke in late November 2018 that Chinese scientist He Jiankui had used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to engineer twins to ensure heritable immunity to HIV, Beijing has implemented a multitiered response to address apparent shortcomings in Chinese laws. New regulations governing the protection and use of human genes, patients and embryos in preclinical and clinical research are coming into force, but do they mean real change for the country?...

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