Following the announcement made by Chinese scientists on changes in the genome of human embryos and the initial reactions from the international scientific community, the White House is now voicing its scepticism.

John P. Holdren, Barack Obama’s scientific advisor has stated that: “The Administration believes that altering the human germline for clinical purposes is a line that should not be crossed at this time“.

The White House supports the initiative of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) which have convened an international summit meeting next autumn in order to discuss the implications of genetically changing germinal cells for research purposes and clinical applications.

For Robert Pollack, Professor of Biology at Columbia University, “the opening to germline modification is the opening of a return to the agenda of eugenics“.

In  letter published in the Science journal summarising the malaise amongst the scientific community, he stressed that, “rational eugenics is still eugenics“.