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Six months after a Chinese
scientist was widely condemned for helping to make the world's first geneedited
babies, he remains out of public view, and new information suggests that others
may be interested in undertaking the same kind of work outside the United
States.
A clinic in the United Arab
Emirates city of Dubai emailed scientist He Jiankui to seek training in gene
editing, Stanford University bioethicist Dr. William Hurlbut said ahead of a
speech Tuesday at the World Science Festival in New York.
Hurlbut, whose advice He often
sought, said He told him that scientists from multiple countries and families
with inherited health problems had messaged support and interest in altering
the genes of embryos(胚胎)to prevent or treat disease. Hurlbut gave The
Associated Press the email the Dubai clinic sent to He in December but decided
to hide the clinic's name.
"It reveals what eagerness
there is out there to use this technology" and the need "for some
sort of practical governance" of it, Hurlbut said.
Jennifer Doudna, a University
of California, Berkeley, coinventor of the CRISPR geneediting
tool that He used, said that she also has heard of others who want to edit
embryos.
"I think they're entirely
credible," she said of such reports. Doudna, who was also a speaker at the
New York festival, said the field needs to focus on setting specific principles
for how and when such work should proceed.
"The technology is frankly
just not ready for clinical use in human embryos," although research
should continue, she said. Doudna is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute, which also supports AP's Health and Science Department.
Scientists and policy leaders
have been debating how to set international standards or controls since He
claimed in November that he had altered the genes of twin girls at conception(怀孕)to try
to help them resist possible future infection with the AIDS virus.
Editing embryos is outlawed in
many countries because it risks damaging other genes, and the DNA changes can
be passed to future generations. Many scientists have condemned He's work, and
attention has fallen on other scientists who knew or strongly suspected what He
was doing.
(1)
What is the email the Dubai clinic sent to He Jiankui probably about?
A . Expectation of gene editing training.
B . Inherited health problems.
C . Eagerness to use the technology.
D . Practical governance in need.
(2)
Why does Doudna think that there is need to put governance on geneediting?
A . Because there is decreasing eagerness to use the technology of altering the genes of embryos.
B . Because the clinic use of the technology in human embryos is still in inadequate preparation.
C . Because the evidence showing people's need of the technology is just completely unbelievable.
D . Because some scientists or doctors may use the technology with the aim of making profits.
(3)
What can we infer from the passage?
A . He Jiankui used to held consultations with Hurlbut on gene editing.
B . It's still illegal to edit the genes of embryos in many countries.
C . How to set international standards or controls over geneediting is still in heated debate.
D . Doudna assisted He Jiankui by providing a tool to alter the genes of twin girls at conception.
(4)
Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
A . He Opens a New Age in Genetics
B . The First Geneedited Babies in the World
C . A New Method of Preventing diseases
D . Geneedited Babies Debate Continues
答案: A
B
A
D