China set to introduce gene-editing regulation following CRISPR-baby furore โ Nature
What happened: The most recent draft of Chinaโs updated civil code includes new regulations protecting human genes in adults or embryos from experimentation that could โendanger human health or violate ethical norms.โ The new law lists a personโs genes in a section of protected personality rights, and according to lawyers who spoke to Nature, anyone experimenting with human genes will be responsible for what happens to their subjects.
Why itโs important: Chinaโs health ministry drafted regulations in March outlining punishments for scientists who violate existing gene-editing rules, but this update to the civil code goes a step further by enshrining the protection of oneโs genes as a fundamental right. While the civil code has been undergoing revisions since 2002, additions regarding genes and gene editing come at a time when countries around the world are grappling with how to ethically manage technologies like CRISPR, especially in response to biophysicist He Jiankuiโs now-infamous experiment genetically modifying viable human embryos.