That Chinese gene editing thing is going about as well as you expected

The international scientific and medical community responded with shock at He’s claims, which he presented again Nov. 27 at the second International Human Genome Editing Summit in Hong Kong. His claims so far have not been substantiated. But many in China’s scientific community, which has been on the long march to pioneer genetic therapies, swiftly condemned He for using the CRISPR/cas9 editing technique on human embryos.

Many scientists and ethicists, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies have a vast potential to treat even the rarest and most obscure diseases in human beings without moral objections or tampering with humanity’s gene pool. Many of these promising therapies are already under development.

Gene editing is aimed at two different kinds of cells in the body: somatic cells (an individual’s cells) and germ cells (sperm or egg).