China’s recent biotech research has shocked many observers for apparently crossing ethical boundaries.
China is investing massively in biomedical research. Earlier this year, Chinese researchers published the results of an experiment in editing the genes of human embryos. The researchers may have failed in their attempts to modify a gene that causes beta-thalassemia, but was it a line than should never have been crossed?
It is a small step from trying to eliminate a blood disorder to choosing eye colour or intelligence.
But Chinese biomedical research is a little like an oil tanker – hard to slow and virtually impossible to stop. In 2013, the State invested around £120 billion in “the development of scientific research and experimentation.”
Confucius believed that someone only becomes a person after they are born so embryo experimentation doesn’t necessarily stir as many negative emotions in China. Despite this, the State does have a moratorium on experiments involving embryos that are older than 14 days.
That’s the trouble with ethics – it all boils down to personal beliefs – but then what doesn’t?
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