Ned Piyadarakorn
Screens-Human-Nature-9-7-2020
Emmy-winning documentarian Adam Bolt set out to examine the complex ethics of gene editing technology.
Human Nature, a new documentary on CRISPR, offers the viewer a clear explanation of the science behind the groundbreaking gene editing technology and a thoughtful examination of the ethical issues connected to its use, which has the potential to alter the course of human evolution. Human Nature airs on NOVA at Wisconsin Public Television on Sept. 9 (7 p.m. CDT) and will be available for streaming for a month afterward.
Human Nature is a compelling watch. It doesn’t dumb down the science, but it does illustrate complex concepts with top-notch graphics. One reason for the documentary’s reasoned approach is the filmmakers’ choice of sources, including UW-Madison’s superstar bioethicist Alta Charo, who appears throughout the film, commenting, in her straightforward and articulate way, on the myriad issues facing scientists and policymakers.
Charo has been safely working from her west-side home since the pandemic hit. Her work includes deliberating with national and international governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) to create oversight on the uses of technology. CRISPR, which allows scientists to change genetic sequences by adding or subtracting specific genes, often reaches the headlines for science fiction-type scenarios. Could scientists engineer soldiers who can’t feel pain, or create designer babies by selecting for musical or athletic talent or physical characteristics? In practice, genetic editing has already led to breakthroughs in treating diseases such as sickle cell anemia.
Charo says she is deeply immersed in examining the ethical and social ramifications of CRISPR. “Yesterday and today I woke up before dawn for three-hour global conferences having to do with the global governance of human genome editing. That's how I start my days,” says Charo. “Next week, I'll be in an all-day meeting having to do with national security issues, many of which have to do with the potential for genome editing to be used for nefarious purposes, as well as the ones that we might applaud.”
CRISPR technology, she says, shows promise for some “potential treatment pathways” for COVID-19. “It's a very powerful tool,” says Charo. “Let’s say for the first time somebody handed you a pair of scissors, and then you ask, ‘Well, how important are scissors?’ Well, look at all the things I can cut now.”
As an example of both the promise and the perils of genetic tinkering, Charo talks about harnessing the potential of CRISPR to address some of the world’s agricultural problems. “We're facing a situation in which we already have a pattern of drought and famine in parts of the world and flooding in other parts that interfere with the ability to grow enough food, to feed people,” says Charo. “We also have a system of agriculture that uses tremendous amounts of land and produces tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide. So wouldn't it be great if we could use genome editing to develop varieties of the food plants and animals that we need?
“These are all really terrific possibilities, and I am quite confident that genome editing and the technologies that grow out of it are going to become a really big part of our agriculture in the foreseeable future,” says Charo. But the same technology could be used to develop bioterror weapons. “CRISPR is certainly a tool that could be used to try and insert something problematic into a key crop that would make it wilt or become toxic, or make it more vulnerable to a pest. So the same tool that could be used to help save us from food insecurity is one that also could be turned into a weapon.”
The film’s director, Adam Bolt, says the rapid advances in human genetic engineering inspired him to tackle the complex topic. “Before CRISPR, genetic engineering with very few exceptions was limited to plants and animals and was considered too risky and dangerous to do in humans,” says Bolt, speaking from his home in Brooklyn, New York. “CRISPR has totally changed that and much faster than anyone expected. They thought it wouldn't be coming for another few decades. That's what got me as a documentarian, the pace of the change and the experience of scientists going through such a fast revolution in their fields.”
The director believes it’s imperative that our leaders and the public understand the implications of altering genes in ways that can change human evolution.
“In the film, Alta rightly points out that there have been many times in the past when there's been some kind of breakthrough in biotechnology, and the concerns come up about Brave New World-type scenarios where we’re mass producing engineered people with specific traits. But those things haven't come to pass,” says Bolt. “I think that's a valid point, but we also wanted to balance that out with a more far-reaching perspective that history repeats itself until it doesn't. So just because that’s been the pattern for a few decades of humans having the ability to manipulate DNA and do things with embryos, it doesn't mean that the future can't be different. The new technology gives us new capabilities and actually opens up those capabilities to more people.”
Bolt says he values the varied perspectives offered by scientists, patients, ethicists and journalists in the documentary. “It's strange to say this, but I feel like even after working on the film for over three years, I don't have an easy answer to whether this is good or bad,” says Bolt. “I do think it's in the hands of the people who are using it. And we wanted to make a film that demystified it and showed people the possibility — what could go wrong and also what could go right.”
Human Nature spends some time interviewing patients and doctors grappling with sickle cell disease, which disproportionately affects people whose ancestors were from sub-Saharan Africa; Central and South America; Saudi Arabia; India; and the Mediterranean. “Sickle cell disease is a really serious condition that CRISPR has proven to be a game-changer for,” says Bolt. “So, you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But I think the more people know, the more they can consider the different possibilities.”
Both Bolt and Charo believe that Human Nature is also a significant contribution to the public understanding of science. “It’s really important for people to see that science isn’t some kind of monolithic enterprise; it's made up of lots of people with different perspectives,” says Bolt, adding that the technology advanced even while he was making the film, including successful clinical trials for curing sickle cell disease. “It was surprising how many of the predictions came true while we were making the film. At the beginning it was hard to believe that we would actually see CRISPR used on human embryos and actually have babies born whose DNA has been changed using CRISPR. But it did.”
Charo appreciates that the documentary allows sources to speak for themselves. “They told the story entirely in the words of the people they were interviewing; there was no narration. To splice together the combination of scientists and patients talking about their illnesses and parents talking about their kids and make it all seem equally comprehensible is a trick I've never seen before,” she says, adding the film does the best job she has seen in explaining the underlying science of CRISPR.
Human Nature’s greatest contribution, says Charo, is its approach to science. “They told the story of CRISPR in a way that demonstrates how science is done, how unexpected things can turn into something splendid, how people build on the discoveries of those who came before,” she says. “Often there's not a lot of space given to journalists to tell that story. All they can write about is the latest discovery, and it doesn't give journalists a chance to let the public understand the sequence of events and the process by which science comes about. That has a real effect on public policy, because people don't understand necessarily why their tax dollars have to go to fundamental research that has no obvious use right now.”
