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Analysis and Technology

Are the US and China heading for a gene-editing ‘space race’?

By Sally Adee

18 November 2016

Chinese and US flags

A biomedical duel seems to be building

Ng Han Guan/AFP/Getty Images

This week it emerged that the first human test of the controversial gene-editing technique CRISPR had taken place at West China Hospital in Chengdu, where oncologists used it to treat a man with an aggressive lung cancer.

Similar trials are expected to start in early 2017 in the US, sparking speculation that the two countries are . But is this a responsible way to frame the development of a technology that is so fraught with possible risk?

The…

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