Academician Krasnikov advocated for preemptive legal regulation while experts debate ethics and safety.
The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Gennady Krasnikov, signaled the imminent arrival of technologies enabling not only the selection of a future child’s sex but also the modification of their genetic code, as detailed by NNTW.
Despite holding a personally cautious stance, the academician views technological advancement as inevitable and stresses the necessity of establishing legislative frameworks ahead of time.
The response to this announcement was swift and sharp. Deputy Vitaly Milonov strongly opposed such proposals, while geneticists highlighted considerable medical and ethical hazards. Genetics expert Olga Kokorina emphasized that such interventions are officially forbidden in Russia, and all experimentation is severely restricted due to the danger of unpredictable outcomes for the human genome.
Nevertheless, certain researchers within Russia are actively pushing this field forward. In 2019, Denis Rebrikov demonstrated the capability to create an embryo resistant to HIV and intended to assist deaf parents in having a hearing child. However, the Ministry of Health’s Ethics Committee mandated a moratorium on such research, leading to the suspension of those projects.
International experience underscores the difficulty of oversight. Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced in 2018 the birth of the first babies with edited genomes, resulting in a conviction; yet, following his release, he resumed work in the United States, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease prevention.
In Western nations, including the UK and the USA, only investigative manipulations on embryos up to 14 days old are permitted, with implantation being prohibited.
Private investments in this domain, such as Sam Altman’s involvement with the startup Preventive, are raising worries among ethicists. They caution against the commercialization of genetic technologies without proper supervision and the potential exacerbation of social disparities. Against this backdrop, Japan has tightened its legislation, introducing criminal penalties for the creation of “designer” babies.
About the Author
