CGS-authored
What’s even more repulsive than the idea of using DNA tests to help people create a designer babies? Getting a patent for the idea.
23andMe, the pioneering direct-to-consumer genetic testing company, was awarded such a patent in September. U.S. Patent #8,543,339 is titled “Gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations,” and among the inventions it claims is the idea of using genetic tests and computer programs to predict the likely traits of a baby based on the DNA of its parents.
Needless to say, this patent does not sit well with bioethicists. In a commentary published Thursday in the journal Genetics in Medicine, a group of bioethicists in Europe describes another scenario covered by the patent: prospective parents seeking egg and sperm donors with specific DNA variants to maximize their chance of having a child who will grow to a specific height, or develop the slow-twitch muscles that make someone a better endurance athlete, or have certain personality characteristics. Some traits, such as gender and eye color, could be chosen pretty reliably.
“Selecting children in ways such as those patented...
23andMe, the pioneering direct-to-consumer genetic testing company, was awarded such a patent in September. U.S. Patent #8,543,339 is titled “Gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations,” and among the inventions it claims is the idea of using genetic tests and computer programs to predict the likely traits of a baby based on the DNA of its parents.
Needless to say, this patent does not sit well with bioethicists. In a commentary published Thursday in the journal Genetics in Medicine, a group of bioethicists in Europe describes another scenario covered by the patent: prospective parents seeking egg and sperm donors with specific DNA variants to maximize their chance of having a child who will grow to a specific height, or develop the slow-twitch muscles that make someone a better endurance athlete, or have certain personality characteristics. Some traits, such as gender and eye color, could be chosen pretty reliably.
“Selecting children in ways such as those patented...