美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）对贺建奎博士在第二届全球人类基因组编辑峰会上的报告内容感到深深的担忧。报告里，贺博士描述了他如何使用CRISPR-Cas9系统编辑人类胚胎，让CCR5基因失活。他声称随后对两个胚胎进行了植入，两名婴儿由此诞生。这项工作表明了贺博士以及他的团队向国际伦理准则的挑衅，该意愿让人深感不安。这一工作很大程度上是秘密进行的。让这些婴儿的CCR5基因失活，其医学必须性完全没有说服力，知情同意的过程非常值得质疑，而其对于破坏性脱靶效应的探索则不令人满意。非常不幸，这项强大的技术首次用于人类生殖系，过程却是如此不负责任。我们需要建立国际性的共识，为此类研究设置限制。在香港的这些争论，让这一需求变得明显至极。如果没有这些限制，世界将有被大量考虑不周，不道德的类似项目所充斥的风险。倘若这种具有极大影响力的科学不幸事件继续发生，那些能够预防和治疗疾病，具有巨大潜力的技术将被合理的公愤，恐惧和厌恶所掩盖。

以免产生任何疑问，我们再次重申，NIH不支持对于人类胚胎的基因编辑技术。

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

美国国立卫生研究院主任

Statement on Claim of First Gene-Edited Babies by Chinese Researcher

NIH is deeply concerned about the work just presented at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong by Dr. He Jiankui, who described his effort using CRISPR-Cas9 on human embryos to disable the CCR5 gene. He claims that the two embryos were subsequently implanted, and infant twins have been born. This work represents a deeply disturbing willingness by Dr. He and his team to flaunt international ethical norms. The project was largely carried out in secret, the medical necessity for inactivation of CCR5 in these infants is utterly unconvincing, the informed consent process appears highly questionable, and the possibility of damaging off-target effects has not been satisfactorily explored. It is profoundly unfortunate that the first apparent application of this powerful technique to the human germline has been carried out so irresponsibly. The need for development of binding international consensus on setting limits for this kind of research, now being debated in Hong Kong, has never been more apparent. Without such limits, the world will face the serious risk of a deluge of similarly ill-considered and unethical projects. Should such epic scientific misadventures proceed, a technology with enormous promise for prevention and treatment of disease will be overshadowed by justifiable public outrage, fear, and disgust.

Lest there be any doubt, and as we have stated previously, NIH does not support the use of gene-editing technologies in human embryos.

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, National Institutes of Health