Designed for Life

A company is offering parents having IVF the chance to check embryos for a range of traits and conditions, but some experts fear that choices may go beyond preventing disease

- by JASMINE LAWS

A NEW TOOL ALLOWS PARENTS UNDERGOING in vitro fertilization to screen their embryos for health issues, but is it ethical?

Genetic disease is believed to be linked to 41 per-cent of U.S. infants' deaths, and more than 2 million children in the country have a genetic condition.

U.S.-based Nucleus is offering people having IVF the chance to select their embryos by using software that highlights various genetic markers linked to health, with the aim of reducing preventable genetic diseases. Its CEO, Kian Sadeghi, who was 7 when his 15 year-old cousin died suddenly from one, told Newsweek: “Seeing this genetic lottery, when someone wins and someone doesn't, really stuck with me.”

Technology that tries to prevent genetic diseases like sickle cell disease, where patients have unusually shaped red blood cells, is already in use.

“This type of selection of specific embryos as a result of IVF is already occurring in sickle cell care,” Dr. Crawford Strunk, vice chief medical officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, told Newsweek.

Parents are able to choose an embryo which tests negative for sickle cell disease, he said, and from which stem cells can also be taken for transplant to help cure children with the condition.

However, two experts raised concern over embryo selection, with one telling Newsweek that there are “deeply troubling ethical aspects.”

Preventing Genetic Disease

Nucleus Embryo is described as “the first genetic optimization software that helps parents pursuing IVF see and understand the complete genetic profile of each of their embryos.”

With the tool, users can check for more than 1,000 traits and conditions, from single gene disorders like cystic fibrosis to complex conditions like heart disease and cancer risks, and mental health conditions like anxiety and ADHD, Sadeghi told Newsweek.