Study Reveals Public Opinion on Polygenic Embryo Screening for IVF
By Stephanie Dutchen,
Harvard Medical School
| 05. 14. 2024
At a glance:
Survey reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults support using emerging technology to screen embryos during IVF for likelihood of developing certain health conditions or traits that arise from more than one gene.
Only about one-third of respondents approved of using the technology to predict traits unrelated to disease.
Nearly all expressed concerns about potential negative outcomes for individuals or society.
Findings underscore need for public education about benefits, limitations, ethical hazards of polygenic risk scores for embryos.
Three out of four adults in the U.S. support the use of emerging technologies that estimate a future child’s likelihood of developing certain health conditions influenced by multiple genes — such as diabetes, heart disease, and depression — before an embryo is implanted during in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a new public opinion survey led by researchers at Harvard Medical School.
Results of the survey, published May 14 in JAMA Network Open, underscore the need for public education and conversation about the potential positive and negative implications of these ethically fraught technologies, the researchers said.
Although the approach...
Related Articles
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Zoeann Murphy, The Washington Post | 10.01.2025
MEXICO CITY — When she walked into an IVF clinic in June, Alin Quintana knew it would be the last time she would try to conceive a child. She had prepared herself spiritually and mentally for the visit: She had traveled to a nearby...
By Rob Stein, NPR | 09.30.2025
Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues...
By Jessica Mouzo, El País | 10.03.2025
DNA is the molecule of life: this double-helix structure, present in every cell in the body and organized into fragments called genes, stores the instructions for making organisms function. It is a highly precise biological machine, but sometimes it breaks...
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...