Under the pseudonyms “Lulu” and “Nana”, two Chinese twins born in October of 2018 reportedly had their genes modified in ways which might have significantly improved their memory and cognition.

A team of Chinese researchers led by He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen used CRISPR gene editing to remove a section of the CCR5 gene from the twins’ embryos as a novel form of HIV/AIDS prevention. CCR5 creates a cell membrane protein expressed by immune system cells that, in some cases, HIV uses to fuse into the cell. 

Editing the gene, according to He’s plan, would leave such receptors nonfunctional, a plan stemming from his wrongful assumption that a faulty CCR5 protein would impede HIV’s ability to enter cells and affect the body. By his own admission, He’s protocol produced mutations in CCR5 that had never before been seen in humans, and there produced novel, yet-to-be seen effects in humans.

Of the possible effects, Alcino J. Silva, a UCLA neurologist, remarks, “the answer is likely [that] it did affect their brains,” but that “the exact effect on the girls’ cognition is impossible to predict.” Silva concludes, for that reason, that using CRISPR to genetically edit humans “should not be done.”

Silva guides the conversation about CRISPR in another direction, noting that applications for CRISPR are potentially more expansive than simply editing genes. He questions, “could it be conceivable that at one point in the future we could increase the average IQ of the population?” Silva ultimately remarks, “I would not be a scientist if I said no,” but that the world is not “ready for it yet.” 

Considering He’s experiment, current uses of CRISPR on humans would raise a myriad of ethical concerns. Currently, these ethical conflicts are a point of contention within the scientific community—how should scientists address ethical concerns if scientific advancement is on the line? Are ethics unreasonably impeding scientific research? In addition ethical concerns, scientists are currently grappling with the possible effects of CRISPR on humans; for example, what kind of structure would society adopt in the event of genetically enhanced humans being created?

Today, there is no definite answer at which scientists may arrive—and, as for the long-term effects of gene editing, only time will tell.