(NewsNation) — A Silicon Valley startup is drawing scrutiny for allegedly attempting to genetically engineer human embryos.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the company Preventive is working toward genetically engineering its first baby and may conduct experiments overseas, in countries where the practice is legal. Preventive has denied the allegations, stating it is focused only on pre-clinical research.
Genetic modification of human embryos is illegal in the United States and many countries worldwide.
The practice gained international attention following a 2018 scandal when Chinese scientist He Jiankui was imprisoned for three years after claiming to have created the first gene-edited babies resistant to HIV — a claim later disputed when the children turned out not to be actually immune.
Jamie Metzl, a bestselling author and member of the World Health Organization’s expert advisory committee on human genome editing, warned that attempting embryo modification now would constitute “Nuremberg style human experimentation.”
“Human biology is extremely complex. We don’t really understand it all that well,” Metzl told NewsNation. “The science just isn’t there yet.”
Metzl distinguished between existing practices and proposed genetic modification. Currently, parents undergoing in vitro fertilization can have embryos tested for genetic disorders such as Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis, then choose which embryos to implant. That process remains less controversial than actively editing embryos.
Preventive is reportedly attempting the work in the United Arab Emirates, where regulations are less restrictive. The company counts Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong among its backers.
Armstrong argued the scientific case for embryo editing, noting that over 300 million people globally live with genetic diseases and that correcting them before disease progression could save lives.
However, Metzl cautioned against treating human genetics like computer code. He warned that tech entrepreneurs, rather than health care and biology professionals, are driving the effort.
“It’s not coincidental that these are tech people,” Metzl said. “It’s just wrong to think that humans are just like computers.”
While Metzl acknowledged that future applications of embryo editing could theoretically transform lives — potentially extending a painful five-year existence to a 90-year fulfilling one — he stressed that the current moment is premature.