Screening for the 'best' baby? Genetic testing startups lure parents to US

Fertility experts say strict UK laws are no bar to accessing a booming industry that has led to concerns about eugenics, report Emma Haslett, Matt Russell and Madeleine Parr

- report Emma Haslett, Matt Russell and Madeleine Parr

Curled on his father's lap, four-weekold Dax Zey can't focus his eyes yet; he hasn't even smiled for the first time.

But his future is already mapped out.

His fathers, Arthur Zey and Chase Popp, who live in a small town outside Denver, Colorado, chose an egg donor for her height, health and good looks. They chose the surrogate who carried him for her healthy habits.

And, when it came to deciding which embryo to use, they chose the one that was estimated to have the highest IQ; would reach a "respectable" height; and would live the longest.

Dax is the product of pre-implantation genetic testing for polygenic disorders (PGT-P), a relatively new science offered by a crop of US startups. His parents paid $50,000 to a company called Herasight, which ranked their embryos' genomes against wider population data, providing information on everything from their likely IQ to their chances of developing conditions such as schizophrenia, cancer and diabetes.

Dax is the product of pre-implantation genetic testing for polygenic disorders (PGT-P), a relatively new science offered by a crop of US startups. His parents paid $50,000 to a company called Herasight, which ranked their embryos’ genomes against wider population data, providing information on everything from their likely IQ to their chances of developing conditions such as schizophrenia, cancer and diabetes.

This is not genetic engineering, because parents are selecting from a clutch of embryos already created, rather than editing or creating genes - but it does allow parents, as one startup, Nucleus Genomics, put it in an infamous ad campaign, to choose their “best baby”.

It's a step further than genetic testing for, say, cystic fibrosis or Down's syndrome, which is already widely available. And what makes most people squeamish about PGT-P is the moral question: the idea of selecting embryos for traits such as IQ or height feels like playing God.