Investigation of human gene editing claim justified

That the National Health Commission ordered an investigation into the claim by a Chinese scientist to have done the first human gene editing immediately after the news broke on Monday suggests that the practice itself is problematic.

He Jiankui claimed to have created the world's first genetically edited babies with the approval of the ethics committee of a pediatric hospital in the city of Shenzhen. However, the hospital has denied this.

Southern University of Science and Technology where professor He used to work until early this year, and where he is still on the roster, said its biological academic committee believes that if what He claims is true, it would be a serious violation of medical ethics, and it too would conduct an investigation.