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In the United States, start-ups are offering future parents the option to select, among several embryos conceived through IVF, the one with the best genetic profiles: health, height, eye color, or even intelligence. They speak of optimization, while others criticize the ethical vertigo.
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Almost a perfect baby? Dax, born five weeks ago in California from a surrogate mother, was selected for his promising genes. “The data indicates a height of 1m92 and predicts an IQ of 146, which is quite good, as well as a life expectancy of over two years above average,” details Arthur Zey, his father.
This programmer and his husband chose, based on various criteria, the embryo they deemed the best among the 12 fertilized ones, whose genes were analyzed: “What interested me the most was the intelligence criterion, honestly. The thing is, we want to minimize the element of chance in this entire process.” “Imagine he grows up and doesn’t turn out to be a genius. Will I be a little disappointed? Yes. Surprised, of course,” he also explains, “But the main thing is that he is happy, healthy, and maximizes his abilities.”
In a country of excess, where skyscrapers constantly push the boundaries of the possible, a giant advertisement in the New York subway promotes choosing the best, smartest, and healthiest baby. This is the new obsession of Silicon Valley billionaires who are heavily investing in genetic optimization start-ups, engaged in a frantic race for the future baby’s potential.
One of these companies, Herasight, has opened its doors to France Télévisions. Everything takes place in this laboratory in North Carolina. The DNA is extracted, then the entire genome of each embryo is sequenced, as well as that of the parents. “It takes us between 48 and 72 hours to have enough data for each sample,” specifies an employee. The goal: cross-referencing the information and establishing what is called a polygenic score, an estimate of the predispositions of each fetus to develop a certain trait or disease.
This process of selecting an embryo is prohibited in France. The United States is one of the few countries to allow it. Justin Schleede, the laboratory director, justifies it in the name of a supposed right to control everything: “The goal is to have healthy children, successful children, who have all the advantages in life, regardless of the advantage.”
Isn’t there a risk? A gateway to eugenics? “There is always a risk that the government will intervene and take control, force people to do certain things,” admits Justin Schleede, “But that is absolutely not what is happening here. Our clients are individuals who want to have a choice in complete freedom.”
Victoria and Marshall Fritz have no fertility issues. They voluntarily chose to undergo IVF with their own gametes to select a robust baby, for an additional $25,000. Now is the time to choose between 14 embryos, or rather between one percentage and another.
<p"On each embryo, like this one, we can look at the probability of breast cancer, glaucoma, prostate cancer. This one, for example, has a high risk of type 1 diabetes," details Marshall Fritz. Victoria Fritz has type 1 diabetes. She does not want her child to have the same disease, even though the entire process has made her question it. "Maybe my parents wouldn't have chosen me if this technology had existed before. I don't know if I would have been selected. It's something that made me think. We see the disease risks of each embryo, but we must remember that these are only risks. And not having perfect health does not prevent one from having a fulfilling life. I am proof of that. I am very happy to be alive, even though I do not have a perfect health record."
This is just the beginning. These private companies plan to eventually sell the selection of eye or hair color and want to go even further. Bioethics researchers are sounding the alarm. Among them, Vardit Ravitsky, president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research center: “There is a term in bioethics called ‘slippery slope.’ Because once we see the power of this technology, there will be pressure to move towards DNA modification. And we already see companies conducting research in this direction.”
Moreover, for now, this technology has not been fully validated by scientific research. And genes are not everything. Dax, like all selected embryos, will need much more to become an almost perfect adult.
