yes I see him

Dear All, Thank you for joining, we will start on the hour. We are just letting everyone join at the moment.

Dear all, we will have opportunity to put some questions to the committee in the next session. Please use the Q&A function to note any questions you would like to ask. Also, remember that multi language interpretation is available through the language button at the bottom of the zoom window.

Siswanto: I hope our 5th recommendation answered your question. We would hope that others at the institute would ‘speak up’ and report the activity. The WHO can’t penalise anyone, but funders, journals, and peer groups can withdraw support if there are no local penalties for failing to register the trial.

Bhaskar: The ‘scenarios’ including in the Governance Document part of our Report may help in this respect.

Bhaskar, no we did not consider animals and plants. Our remit was Human genome editing. However we recognize that gene editing technologies are advancing and are being applied in plants and animals

the report focused solely on human applications. Animal and plant editing is also important to public health but was beyond the terms of reference for this committee

Bhaskar: A few of us on the committee are familiar with the research being done on genome editing of plants and animals, but many of the issues are distinct from those of genome editing in humans - other bodies are addressing these.

@Balakrishnan - indeed, the report actually lays our a list of elements that a country must consider when constructing their policies and regulatory responses.

To whom should a whistle-blower report, and how will the recipient of such “rogue reports” balance the privacy of the whistle-blowers with the need to confirm the veracity of the reports? (If you’ve considered this issue….)

the report suggests that there is a need for a collaborative effort among national regulators, professional societies and such to convene and share information about worrisome developments. Initially we recommend that WHO use its convening powers to facilitate this process.

Bhaskar, this is true. The current costs of treatments are quite prohibitive.

Your work is very needed and much applauded!!

This is something that we discussed at length and we were clear that it is important that the treatments are accessible and that there is equity in distribution or disbursment

Thank you to the committee and WHO and all for facilitating this highly important discussion.

This was very informative and encouraging to hear! Thank you all for your work & commitment to making gene editing more equitable & ethical.

** gene editing conversations

We hope our recommendations about intellectual property will help address some of the problems about costs, but also plea for scientists and companies to consider these when first embarking on a project to use genome editing to treat or avoid a genetic disease. Using techniques that allow many to be treated rather than personalised treatments that are always expensive, should help.

Thank you, a much needed work that have to be pursued diligently

Thank you to all attendees. Please help us to build this new world where the benefits of human genome editing are available to all. We do not want personalized medicine for a elite few.

An in-depth set of documents which covers challenges many of which are not unique to genome editing. I look forward to seeing their impact over time.