September 13, 2024

Arielle Nguyen 

11th Grade

Fountain Valley High School 

Have you heard of The Sims, a best-selling series of life simulation games? The Sims presents the player with choices regarding their character’s entire life, from their appearance to personality to strengths. What if that game could become a reality? Could you imagine how anarchic the world would become? Parents fighting for a baby to pass the intelligence of Einstein; models competing for the most stunning baby to enter the job market; sick people genetically modifying their children to not suffer their diseases…the list goes on. 

And yes, The Sims has it all, and for a long time, we didn’t have these advancements. Until the gene-edited babies known as Lulu and Nana came along. In November 2018, Lulu and Nana became the first babies to become HIV immune due to modified genes, having been under an “experiment” conducted by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui. How did He Jiankui complete this? Through CRISPR technology. 

CRISPR, short for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”, is a gene-editing technology that scientists employ to selectively modify DNA. It functions by creating double-stranded breaks in the DNA, giving it a “spacer” to take advantage of the repair pathways. When this area of the DNA repairs, it can be changed. Although not new to controversy, the ethics of CRISPR has sparked heavy debate. 

To modify Lulu and Nana, He Jiankui used CRISPR-Cas9, or CRISPR-CRISPR-associated protein 9 as it was simpler and more precise than previous gene handling methods. Cas9, an enzyme produced by the CRISPR system, can bind and cut a gene of the DNA. 

The ability to modify genes proves revolutionary in reducing and completely removing the risks of diseases passing down from parent to child. However, many factors involved in the process including the babies’ health, the editing’s success, and the “surgery” itself were not scientifically validated or peer-reviewed. Thus, this “experiment” may have spiraled into creating dangerous eugenics, the practice of controlling the breeding of the human population and providing risks to children. Furthermore, many objections against this technology typically are associated with safety, precision, and self-regulation. The risk of undesired changes or incomplete surgery is far too extreme. Even if the procedure is successful, it can only change genetic disorders caused by one gene. Because most disorders contain many genes, this doesn’t prove very beneficial.

Nonetheless, CRISPR technology has and will continue to change the world. Further development of these techniques and devices may be able to tolerate multiple genes at once. But more importantly, as time passes, research will improve the safety and ethicality of the procedures. Maybe one day we’ll become a life simulation known as The Sims. Oh, wait.