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Washington, DC, October 20: Heliospect Genomics, a startup in the United States, is reportedly offering help to rich couples to screen their embryos for Intelligence quotient (IQ). Undercover footage by a campaign group called Hope Not Hate unearthed the information after investigating a few groups of activists and academics. Notably, the undercover footage showed that the company was marketing its services at USD 50,000 for clients who were looking to test 100 embryos.
Startup Claims To Have Helped Parents Select Future Children During the undercover operation, the video recordings also showed that Heliospect Genomics worked with over a dozen couples who were undergoing IVF. The startup claimed to have helped a few parents select their future children based on genetic predictions of intelligence. It is also alleged that the company's managers expressed confidence that their methods could help produce a gain of more than six IQ points.
PIL in Delhi HC Challenging Rule That Mandates Preserving Unused Gametes or Embryos for Same Recipient. Heliospect Genomics Advertises Experimental Genetic Selection Techniques As per the undercover video footage, the company is allegedly using a controversial technology to screen embryos for IQ, thereby raising questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement. A report by The Guardian said that the undercover footage by Hope Not Hate showed Heliospect Genomics advertising experimental genetic selection techniques to prospective parents.
One of the employees of Heliospect revealed how couples can rank up to 100 embryos based on IQ and other traits such as sex, height, risk of obesity and risk of mental illness, etc. In its defence, the startup said that the prediction tools it uses were built using data provided by UK Biobank. UK Biobank is a taxpayer-funded store of genetic material donated by half a million British volunteers.
It aims to share data for projects which are "in the public interes". However, it must be noted that selecting embryos on the basis of predicted high IQ is not allowed under UK law, even though it's legal in the United States. Having said that, IQ screening is not commercially available across the US.
While the US-based startup company said that they are operating within all applicable laws and regulations, geneticists and bioethicists stated that a host of moral and medical issues have been raised due to the project. "Is this a test too far, do we really want it?," Dagan Wells, a professor of reproductive genetics at the University of Oxford, asked. On the other hand, UK Biobank, which has come under scrutiny for granting data access to the US startup, said that Heliospect's use of the data appears to be "entirely consistent with our access conditions".
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 20, 2024 08:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com ).
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