A growing number of American biotech startups are openly marketing genetic selection services that allow parents to screen and choose embryos based on predicted intelligence, height, health, and other traits — raising urgent ethical questions about the commercialization of human life at its earliest stage.
One California-based child, named Dax, was born via surrogacy after his commissioning parents selected him from twelve fertilized embryos based on genetic scoring. His father described the selection process openly: the chosen embryo carried genetic markers predicting a height of 6’4″, an IQ of 146, and an above-average life expectancy. “What interested me most was the intelligence criterion,” the father stated. “We want to minimize the factor of chance in this process.”
One North Carolina laboratory, Herasight, opened its doors to French television cameras to explain its methodology. Technicians extract DNA from each embryo and sequence the full genome within 48 to 72 hours, then cross-reference data to produce what is called a polygenic score — a statistical estimate of each embryo’s predispositions toward particular traits or diseases. The process, which is prohibited in France and the 35 countries that signed the 1997 Oviedo Convention, is legal in the United States and is one of the few countries where it is permitted.
The price point for embryo selection services currently runs to tens of thousands of dollars above standard IVF costs — making it, for now, primarily the domain of the wealthy. Companies openly advertise expanded services including selection of eye and hair color, and are marketing future capabilities that go further still.
One laboratory director’s defense that this is not eugenics because the selection comes from individual clients rather than the state does not withstand scrutiny. The systematic selection of human beings for superior genetic traits is eugenics by definition — regardless of whether the entity doing the selecting is a government or a paying customer.