He Jiankui isimli Çinli araştırmacı, 26 Kasım 2018 tarihinde bir sosyal paylaşım platformunda paylaştığı video ile CRISPR-Cas9 teknolojisini insan embriyosunda kullandığını iddia ederek, insanlık tarihinin ilk genetik tasarımlı bebeklerinin dünyaya gelmesine katkıda bulunduğunu duyurmuştur. Kısa bir süre sonra yetkili makamlarca da doğrulanan bu deney, yaşadığımız yüzyılın bilim dünyasında sarsıcı etkiler bırakan her yönüyle etik ihlallerine tanık olduğumuz bir deneydir. Bu çalışmada, Dr. He Jiankui'nin CRISPR-Cas9'u insan embriyosu üzerinde kullanma gerekçelerini YouTube'da paylaştığı videolar ve 2. Uluslararası İnsan Genomu Düzenleme Zirvesi'nde sunduğu veriler ışığında ele alıyor, bilim dünyasından gelen tepkiler ile yarattığı etik tartışmaları alanyazındaki ilgili kaynakları derleyerek inceliyoruz. Çalışmamızda, oldukça dinamik ve etik açıdan pek çok ikilemi bulunan, insan embriyoları üzerinde yapılmış bu deneye yönelik bilimsel ve etik değerlendirmelerin Türkçe alanyazına kazandırılmasını amaçlıyor, etik ihlaller ile oldukça olumsuz bir örnek teşkil eden bu çalışmayı görünür kılarak, her bilim insanının çalışmalarını sürdürürken bazı etik kurallar çerçevesinde hareket etmesi gerekliliğinin altını çiziyoruz.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Tıp etiği; embriyo düzenleme; CRISPR-Cas9; üreme hakkı; onam formları; gönüllülük; etik kurul
On 26 November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui posted a video on a social media platform in which he announced the creation of the world's first genetically edited babies with CRISPRCas9 technology. This experiment, which was soon confirmed by the competent authorities, is an experiment that has a staggering impact on our century while it holds ethical violations excessively in all aspects. In this study, the ethical debates that his study caused and the reactions from the scientific environments were evaluated by addressing the reasons behind his use of CRISPR-Cas9 on the human embryo in the light of the videos on the social media platform which belongs to him and the outputs of his study shared at the 2nd International Human Genome Editing Summit. Moreover, we investigate the reactions from the scientific world and the ethical discussions it has created by compiling within the relevant literature. In this study, it is aimed to contribute to the Turkish literature by evaluating He Jianku's experiment from the ethical perspectives and presenting the criticisms of his study. We aim to this experiment, which constitutes a very negative example with ethical violations, makes it more visible to underline the necessity of every scientist to act within the framework of ethical rules while continuing their studies.
Keywords: Medical ethics; embryo editing; CRISPR-Cas9; reproduction rights; consent forms; volunteerism; ethics committee
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