On 21 January 2019, the Chinese authorities confirmed that, as announced by Chinese researcher He Jiankui, a second woman is pregnant with a “genetically modified baby“.
According to the results of the investigation conducted by the Guangdong Provincial Government in China, He Jiankui “produced false ethical evaluation documents“, “privately” set up a research team including foreign scientists and used “questionable safety and efficacy methods” (see Beijing confirms the genetic modification of twins).
The second pregnant woman is “probably 12-14 weeks pregnant,” according to Dr. Hurlbut, an American doctor and bioethicist from Stanford University in California, who has been in contact with the researcher for two years.
According to the official news agency New China, this woman, as well as the twins from the first pregnancy, “will be placed under medical observation“. The Chinese scientist was taken “to accommodation at the University of Science and Technology of the South (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong“.
AFP (22/01/19)