Designer baby: Clinic under fire for offer

Clinically proven but ethically not. A clinic in the US has come under fire for offering would-be parents the choice of selecting eye and hair colour for their child.

According to a report published in DNA, The Fertility Institutes in Los Angeles, which offers sex selection of a child, expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year.

The reason for outrage by other clinics is that The Fertility Institutes is seeking to cash in on the advances in embryo cell analysis aimed at identifying dangerous diseases and defects in the unborn.

The clinics claim the “bespoke baby'' in vitro fertilisation service is taking away public attention from the way medical technology can produce children free of debilitating genetic conditions.
‘moving forward'

Dr Jeffrey Stienberg, fertility specialist, said this service will help people since he has witnessed a lot of people wanting to go under the knife for a straight nose and high cheekbones. He said he understands the trepidation and concerns, but “one cannot escape the fact that science is moving forward''.

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The Fertility Institutes has the world's largest provider of gender choice, and so far many couples have come forward for the new service. The cost for the process will be about $18,000 (Dh66,060).

Genetic technology

Designer babies is a popular term used to describe children whose cosmetic characteristics – such as eye and hair colour – have been selected through genetic manipulation. It can only occur with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with current technologies. Currently, legal advanced IVF techniques include choosing the type of sperm used, which will determine the baby's sex and genes, and scanning embryos for genetic diseases, implanting only a healthy embyro for the mother to carry to term.

In future, scientists could cure genetic diseases by replacing bad sections of DNA in an egg, sperm or tiny embryo with healthy sections, a method called germline therapy. It has been carried out on animals, but is illegal to use on humans. Body cell gene therapy – replacing genes in children or adults – is legal and could cure diseases like cystic fibrosis.

(Source: www.bionetonline.org)