A Baby, Please. Blond, Freckles –Hold the Colic.

By: Gautam Naik

Team: Better than Matsuda

Chrissy, Erik, Ryan

• Fertility Institutes– Clinic in Los Angeles.

– Treatment based on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select gender and physical traits in a baby.

• PGD is used to avert life-threatening diseases in children.

– Cannot deliver on its claims of trait selection.

• “It’s technically feasible and can be done. No legitimate lab would get into it and, if they did, they’d be ostracized.”

– Mark Hughes, Director of Genesis Genetics Institute

• “This is cosmetic medicine. Others are frightened by the criticism but we have no problems with it.”

– Jeff Steinberg, Director of Fertility Institutes

• PGD– A technique where a three-day-old embryo, of about

6 cells, is tested to see if it carries a genetic disease.

– If free of the disease, it is placed in the mother’s womb.

– Introduced in the 1990’s.

– Allowed thousands to avoid passing deadly disorders to children.

– Starting to be used to target less-serious disorders or certain characteristics.

• “If we’re going to produce children who are claimed to be superior because of their particular genes, we risk introducing new sources of discrimination” in society.

– Marcy Darnovsky, Associate Executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society

– People could effectively be enacting their biases against certain characteristics.

• US survey of 999 people who sought genetic counseling found:– Majority support prenatal genetic testing for the

elimination of certain serious diseases.

– 56% support using to counter blindness.

– 75% support using to counter mental retardation.

– 10% would use for athletic ability.

– 10% would use for improved height.

– 13% would use for superior intelligence.

• PGD is prohibited in many countries but is allowed in the US– A survey found that 42% of 137 PGD clinics offered

gender-selection service.

• Embryo screening is used to create a “savior sibling”– A younger sibling whose healthy cells can be harvested to

treat an older sibling with a serious illness.

• Also used with embryos at risk of genetic diseases that are treatable or later in life.– 2007, Bridge Centre Fertility Clinic in London

• Screened embryos for a squint the father had.

• ‘Negative Enhancement’– PGD may be used to select an embryo likely to have the

same disease or disability as the parents.– Survey found 3% of PGD clinics have provided this

service.– A child with the same disability may be more suitable to

participate in his or her parents’ shared culture.

• Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs)– Microarray

– October 2007, deCode Genetics of Iceland

• Various SNPs influence skin, eye and hair color.

• “I vehemently oppose the use of these discoveries for tailor-making children. [It would] decrease human diversity, and that’s dangerous.”

– Kari Stefansson, Chief Executive of deCode Genetics

• Tests don’t work on ethnicities such as Asians and Africans.– Key pigmentation markers unidentified.

• Trait Selection– Difficult to get enough useful DNA material.

– Easy to check diseases linked to a single genes.

– Not enough high-quality genetic material for more complex diseases.

• William Kearns– Medical geneticist and Director of Shady Grove

Center for Pre-implantation Genetics

– Amplified DNA from single cell.

– Test of 42 embryos

• In 80% of the samples physical traits were identifiable

– Against PGD for selection of nonmedical traits.

– Only uses for medical purposes.

– “I’m not going to do designer babies. I won’t sell my soul for a dollar.”

• “We intend to offer [trait selection] soon.”– Dr. Steinberg, Fertility Institutes

Questions??