- Today, I'm gonna be telling you all about
a medical conspiracy that I actually believe in.
Now, you know me.
I'm a positive, uplifting, bright-side kinda guy.
But in this case, truly, I'm worried,
and I think you should be too.
(chill electronic beat)
This is a very, very serious story.
Not even two weeks ago,
I was asked to talk about this on national news.
What I told them then is what I'm gonna tell you now.
I am scared.
I'm scared that this can get out of hand.
I'm scared that disease can spread.
Humans can be altered forever,
and the future generations will never look
the way that they currently do.
You can be affected.
I can be affected.
Kim and Kanye can be affected.
- Certain people have really big foreheads, you know.
- The subject that I'm talking about is gene-edited babies.
- [America's Got Talent Judge] Wow.
(crowd gasping)
- A Chinese researcher came out saying
he delivered a set of twin girls
that have been both genetically edited
using a process known as CRISPR.
Its important to know that CRISPR-Cas9
is a type of gene editing that is not fully well understood,
and the scientific community came to an agreement,
that if there was gonna be any human trials on this,
they have to be fully disclosed,
and they have to be taken into consideration
only in matters of life and death.
If a patient has a deadly illness
that they're sure to die from,
it's worth pursuing this experimental treatment,
in some countries where it's legal.
The genes this researcher edited were ones
that would potentially make these baby girls
resistant to the HIV virus.
Now, in this case, this is not a life or death situation.
Because we actively have treatments for HIV.
And it's no longer the deadly disease that it once was.
Through a series of well-coordinated posts
through the Associated Press and YouTube,
the researcher released information
that he was successful in doing this gene editing
on human embryos and was able
to deliver these two baby girls.
Now the entire medical community
and scientific community alike
has been up in arms, and rightfully so.
You have to understand how shady this entire situation is.
There's this one scientist conducting
controversial research, his hospital and university
are not aware that he's doing this,
he's saying there's a third baby underway,
won't release the names of his subjects
slash parents of these babies.
He's altering the future generations
of this world with no oversight
and truly no regard for humanity.
Side note.
No official scientific quality organization
has come out and validated his work in this trial.
So we don't even know if this guy is telling the truth.
Why is the entire scientific community
up in arms about this?
He just did a trial, whatever, not a big deal.
No.
It's a big deal, and there are true ethical repercussions
that come with this sort of testing.
First of all, he has no idea how this
sort of CRISPR gene editing
is gonna affect future generations.
Will this gene mutate?
Will it be stable?
Will this child be able to live a full and healthy life?
He does not have the answers to these questions,
because none of us have the answers to these questions.
Second, think about the ethical problems
when it comes from a disparity standpoint.
Think about if we can cure all sorts of diseases,
and then the people who can't afford
to get this type of treatment,
still have the diseases.
Think about the inequality that creates.
I've seen sci-fi movies like this in the past
where these social disparities exist,
and the rich can cure any illness,
change their genetics, essentially be superhuman,
while the poor have to live with their illnesses
and disabilities with no hope in sight.
I don't know about you,
but I don't wanna live in a world like that.
And even thinking further.
If we can change genomes in humans,
we can change genomes in viruses, in bacteria.
If, God forbid, a terrorist group
gets access to some of this gene editing
and manipulates a virus or a bacteria,
they can kill millions, very, very quickly.
And the scariest part is,
we wouldn't even know who's responsible.
How would you even track that?
My conspiracy theory in this,
I think countries are racing to do this,
and I think the future is gonna be scary,
because there are gonna be no limits to this.
Do we cure cancer, probably.
Do we eliminate disease, probably.
But then what happens with overpopulation?
What happens when soldiers are genetically changed
to be superior than regular humans?
A lot of people say that the problem
of my generation is gonna be
economics, immigration, politics.
While all those are serious issues,
as a scientist and as a doctor,
I worry about this.
If we don't get control of gene editing,
it's gonna be our next nuclear war, mark my words.
All right, back to good old optimistic Doctor Mike.
While I do believe that that conspiracy is possible,
what I think is more likely,
and I actually hope this is gonna happen,
is that governments are gonna come to their senses
and understand that when you're doing genome research,
even if it's in bioterrorism standpoint,
or try to do it to protect themselves,
if you go overboard, you're threatening all of humanity,
including themselves.
So my hope is that they'll put controls in place,
not go overboard with this type of research,
and really just be smart about it.
I know that that was a little heavier
than most of my videos,
so if you want something lighthearted,
check out my second review of "Scrubs."
I know some of you missed it, so click here.
And stay happy, and healthy.