Human Gene Editing Scientist Does Not Face Death Penalty Risk

Robin Lovell-Badge, Ph.D., a geneticist at The Francis Crick Institute, said Chinese scientist He Jiankui contacted him to deny there was a death penalty risk for his editing of human embryos.

Lovell-Badge had speculated on January 7 that He could receive the death penalty for bribery and corruption because he disregarded official government oversight of his research.

He is confined to an apartment at the Southern University of Science and Technology. He violated Chinese scientific guidelines by genetically altering human embryos that were then implanted into a woman’s uterus and allowed to develop into humans. The guidelines require that the embryos are destroyed at the conclusion of his experiments. There is no specified punishment for failing to follow the guidelines.

Corruption and bribery charges are possible based upon how the research team was assembled.

Robin Lovell-Badge does not have any knowledge about the nature of the detention other than an email from He Jiankui. Robin Lovell-Badge does not understand China’s legal or regulatory system.

Nextbigfuture will follow the He Jiankui human gene-editing controversy but will avoid further sourcing that come from Robin Lovell-Badge. It appeared the UK Telegraph might have had new information but that was not the case.