China scientist claims world’s first gene-edited babies

There is also a history of fraud within China’s academic community — including a scandal last year that led to the withdrawal of 100 “compromised” academic papers.

He Jiankui did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Neither was there any response from queries to the organisers of the Hong Kong conference, and it is not clear whether they were aware of He’s work.

In a pre-recorded video on the conference’s website, biologist and chair of the international summit David Baltimore said: “We have never done anything that will change the genes of the human race, and we have never done anything that will have effects that will go on through the generations.”