US Company Screening Embryos for IQ

Not a surprise here but to see it in print shows how far humans can fall when they start playing God and believe they can figure out what should be, and shouldn’t be, allowed to form in a mother’s womb.

“I really wanted a boy so let’s abort this girl.”

“I know I can’t handle a kid of inferior intellect so let’s abort this one.”

“I didn’t sign up for a Downs Syndrome kid!  It’ll ruin my life!  Let’s abort this one.”

Read on to see where this insanity of the Left is heading.

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A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

The company, Heliospect Genomics, has worked with more than a dozen couples undergoing IVF, according to undercover video footage. The recordings show the company marketing its services at up to $50,000 (£38,000) for clients seeking to test 100 embryos, and claiming to have helped some parents select future children based on genetic predictions of intelligence. Managers boasted their methods could produce a gain of more than six IQ points.

Experts say the development represents an ethical minefield.

The information has emerged from video recordings made by the campaign group Hope Not Hate, which went undercover to investigate separate groups of activists and academics. The Guardian reviewed the recordings and conducted further research alongside Hope Not Hate.

For Michael Christensen, Heliospect’s Danish CEO and a former financial markets trader, genetic selection promises a bright future. “Everyone can have all the children they want and they can have children that are basically disease-free, smart, healthy; it’s going to be great,” he boasted during a video call in November 2023.

Listening to his pitch was an undercover researcher for Hope Not Hate, posing as a UK-based professional looking to start a family. Over the course of several online meetings, the team presented their “polygenic scoring” service. Heliospect does not provide IVF, but rather uses algorithms to analyse the genetic data supplied by parents to predict the specific traits of their individual embryos.

The team offered a guided tour of their test website, which is not yet public. During the presentation, they claimed selecting the “smartest” of 10 embryos would lead to an average IQ gain of more than six points, although other traits such as height and risk of obesity or acne could be prioritised depending on personal preferences.

Eventually, Christensen envisaged, the advent of lab-grown eggs would allow couples to create embryos on an industrial scale – a thousand, or even a million – from which an elite selection could be handpicked.

In future, he speculated, the offering might be extended to include personality types, including providing scores for what he called the “dark triad” traits. Dark triad is normally a reference to machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Christensen said it might also be possible to develop scores for depression and creativity. “Beauty is something lots of people actually ask about,” he added.

 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/18/us-startup-charging-couples-to-screen-embryos-for-iq