Jailed scientist behind gene-altered babies posts eerie photo, blaming ethics for slow progress

The scientist who was sentenced to spend three years in jail for gene-hacking babies has posted to his X account criticizing ethics for slowing down scientific progress.

He Jiankui, along with his two collaborators, were found guilty of "illegal medical practices" and were sentenced to three years in jail for assisting in the genetic modification of babies. It's now been nearly three years since Jiankui was released from jail, and the scientist seems to still believe his direction is the right one, with Jiankui recently taking to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize the ethics surrounding gene modification, saying, "ethics is holding back scientific innovation and progress."

While Jiankui doesn't directly state what he is referencing, it appears the jailed biophysicist is pointing to the ethical standards that caused him to be thrown in jail. For those who don't know what happened, in 2018, Jiankui used CRISPR to edit the DNA of twin girls pseudonymously known as "Lulu" and "Nana" in an attempt to make them immune to HIV.

Shortly after, Jiankui announced the world's first "CRISPR babies," which sparked a public outcry. Jiankui was arrested in 2019 and jailed for three years. 18 months after his release, Jiankui returned to the lab and continued his work on gene-altering, but instead of HIV, he is targeting Alzheimer's.

It appears the jail sentence hasn't changed his stance on gene-editing, with Jiankui posting several times since being released about the potential of the technology, with captions to similar images as what is seen above, "Gene editing technology has the power to reshape the world, like nuclear bomb." And, "Great revolution begins with controversy."