Opaque health concerns Beyond modifying biological agents and creating new ones for bioweaponry and terrorism, over the coming years there will be other opportunities to misuse – accidentally or on purpose – technologies for editing DNA and applying that to human cells (as well as animals, plants and ecosystems). Part of the trouble with human genome editing technology is that it is too new to predict its long-term effects on both the individuals being treated and future generations. Problems can arise at the time an individual is receiving gene editing therapy. These may involve a range of clinical complications61 or off-target effects (which are very common for CRISPR-Cas9). In some gene editing processes, an individual’s genome is subject to significant rearrangements, which have the potential to generate other health issues, such as cancer or even new genetic diseases that are not yet understood by scientists and doctors. In 2018, twins with the genomes of their embryos edited to be resistant to HIV were born in China. The case remains unique in the world – as far as is publicly known – and caused ethical controversy at the time. The twins were guaranteed anonymity by the Chinese government and so there has not been any publicly available tracking of their subsequent health status. The case demonstrates the reach of the technology, and other such surprise announcements by state or non-state actors cannot be excluded over the next decade. Although it may still be generally perceived to be a low-probability risk today, there only needs to be one instance of nefarious application of human genome editing (possibly in an unregulated or non-professional environment) for serious consequences to result, perhaps involving loss of control with cascading health impacts. Other areas of biotech present health risks that are also still somewhat opaque. For now, the risks associated with brain-computer interfaces appear distant, but this could change over 10 years. One category of risks is of a clinical nature, involving possible damage to the brain if the medical intervention is not carried out correctly or in case of complications. A growing number of individual biohackers are already implanting various small devices in different parts of their bodies, some of which they intend to link to the internet. These operations are often undertaken at considerable risk to themselves. If this trend catches on, it could lead not only to unforeseen medical complications for some of the individuals involved, but ultimately also to a world in which person-to-person connections start being replaced by permanent person-machine connectivity, partially divorced from physical reality. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the devastating impact of lessening face-to-face interaction; developments such as this have the potential to magnify that. Crossing ethical boundaries The wide variety of applications of genome editing, from enhancing health or performance to editing foetuses, leads to difficult ethical questions around where the use of these technologies should stop. For example, would it be ethical to apply gene editing to change a child’s eye or skin colour, to modify height or, if that were to become possible, to increase intelligence? What might be unintended consequences, in current or future generations, of editing genes and entire genomes in these ways? Toon Lambrechts, Unsplash Global Risks Report 2025 57