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Prospective parents are being marketed genetic tests that claim to predict which IVF embryo will grow into the tallest, smartest or healthiest child.
But these tests cannot deliver what they promise. The benefits are likely minimal, while the risks to patients, offspring and society are real.
Parents deserve accurate information, not marketing hype, when making profound decisions about their future children.
Which tests are we talking about?
Prospective parents can already have their IVF embryos tested for inherited conditions. But these tests often relate to a single gene, such as for cystic fibrosis.
However, this latest type of testing tries to predict complex traits influenced by thousands of genes operating together. The testing generates “polygenic risk scores” for individual embryos.
This is said to be an embryo’s theoretical risk of developing conditions, such as heart disease or Alzheimer’s, or having certain traits, such as high IQ or above-average height. Parents can then use these scores to choose which embryo or embryos to transfer.
Although Australian companies do not offer these tests, multiple companies in the United States do so.
One, ...
