Joe Rogan was left in shock after a biotech billionaire laid bare how China is ‘engineering babies’ using gene-editing technology.
Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal Biosciences – which just announced it has brought the dire wolf back from extinction – explained how Chinese scientists had cloned and modified babies to be resistant to HIV.
But he added there were rumors researchers in Beijing had also been tinkering with genes responsible for human intelligence, which prompted Rogan to let out a shocked ‘ooh.’
Lamm said on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience: ‘They actually were engineering babies, editing their embryos to confer a resistance to HIV now still to this day.’
He added: ‘The CEO of BGI [Beijing Genomics Institute], which is funded by the CCP, has said that they are looking at genes with humans, they are looking at what makes humans more intelligent, they don’t shy away from this, this is not some conspiracy… this is something that is very real.’
Genetic editing of human embryos has been officially outlawed in China since 2003. However in 2018, Chinese scientist Dr He Jiankui revealed he had created the world’s first genetically modified embryos.
Doctors implanted them in two women and three babies were born who were HIV-resistant, but due to fierce ethical criticism, he was jailed for three years in 2019.
Rogan asked Lamm if China is editing genes to create ‘intelligent kids.’ Lamm noted such theories were ‘under debate’ – pointing toward rumors that China had collected DNA through Covid testing and was analyzing it for intelligence genes.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was left in visible shock after biotech founder Ben Lamm claimed that China has begun genetically modifying babies to make them ‘smarter’.
Between 2016 and 2018, Dr Jiankui modified the genes of embryos belonging to eight couples in which only the father was HIV positive.
Using a gene-editing technique called Crispr-Cas9, he rewrote sections of the embryos’ DNA with the goal of preventing the virus from being passed on.
Following his announcement, Dr Jiankui was promptly arrested and tried by Chinese authorities for ‘illegally carrying out the human embryo gene-editing intended for reproduction‘ in 2019.
Officials found him guilty of conducting ‘illegal medical practices’ and sentenced to him to three years in prison. He was released from jail in 2023.
Rogan, however, said: ‘The scary thing was that they didn’t just do that. They also edited something that would allow the child to have much higher intelligence.’
But Lamm said this claim was ‘under debate’.
He added: ‘There’s people that say that happened. There’s people that say it doesn’t happen.’
But the entrepreneur told Rogan the BGI Group, formerly Beijing Genomics Institute, had collected data from people across the world under the guise of Covid testing and planned to analyze the DNA for intelligence genes that could then be used potentially to create intellectually superior children.
Lamm said: ‘During COVID they’re like “We’ll do all the COVID testing for you free. No worries, just send us your data. You just want to help the world right? We’ll work with the World Health Organization.”
He added: ‘They are openly saying we are sequencing as much as we can of the world population, looking for genes for intelligence and we will act on that.
‘That is not a hidden thing.’
While the genomics company had offered help with virus testing to some US states at the height of the pandemic, BGI has not commented on whether the Covid samples were used to collect human DNA information.
Rogan then jokingly asked if the HIV-immune kids were ‘already winning chess championships’.
He added: ‘We should find out. These kids are probably in a lab somewhere with a headset on, teaching them how to be psychic’.
Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences co-founder, said that scientists have already produced HIV-resistant babies on the latest episode of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’
This graphic reveals how, theoretically, an embryo could be ‘edited’ using the powerful tool Crispr-Cas9 to defend humans against HIV infection
Gene editing for reproductive purposes involves modifying DNA in either gametes, sperm, eggs or early embryos to prevent the transmission of genetic diseases or potentially for genetic enhancement.
However, the process has raised significant ethical concerns over the possibility of it being used to create ‘designer babies’ with specific traits.
Gene editing is currently considered unsafe as there is a lack of long-term data and evidence about potential risks like side effects and mosaicism (a condition in which cells within the same person have a different genetic makeup).
As of now, gene editing for reproductive purposes is effectively banned in the US and most of Europe.
