When does genomics become eugenics?
By Eben Kirksey,
Financial Review
| 12. 11. 2020
As the tools to identify human traits and manipulate them become more refined, ideas about normalcy and deviancy, fitness and disability, are subtly changing.
Simply Google “BGI NIFTY” and you will find a slick website from China’s premier genomics company offering new options in the quest for quality children. This screening technology has already been used in more than 62 countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East.
The NIFTY webpage has a “decision calculator” to see if you should mitigate the risks of your pregnancy. An embedded YouTube video offers a perspective from a young white couple. They talk in British accents about the importance of accuracy, saying that they are willing to pay for the best prenatal care on the market. An older single woman says that this will be her first and perhaps only baby, and she wants to make sure that nothing is wrong.
Previously in China, under the controversial one-child policy, couples were encouraged to make the most of their only shot. Amniocentesis – the insertion of a needle through the abdominal skin into the uterus to extract amniotic fluid which is then tested – was promoted by government experts as part of the practice...
Related Articles
By Matthew Herper, Stat | 07.01.2026
Researchers have created what they say may count as the first synthetic cell, and have started a public benefit corporation to share the technology with other scientists. It’s a piece of science that generates as many questions as answers. They...
By Darren Incorvaia, Fierce Biotech | 07.16.2026
Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., the Nobel Laureate best known for co-inventing the CRISPR system that has become the foundation for gene editing, is dipping her toes into a new, buzzy field: AI-powered protein design.
In a new paper, published today...
By Emily Baumgaetner Nunn, The New York Times | 07.20.2026
The National Institutes of Health recently announced a remarkable achievement: the world’s largest database of human genomes, a repository of information that the agency says will help usher in a new era in personalized medicine.
Scientists are already developing clinical...
By Risa Cromer, The Conversation | 07.17.2026
