A controversial US scientist, who predicts a future where IVF couples can decide the IQ of their children, insists his vision will become a reality by 2029.
Stephen Hsu, co-founder of Genomic Prediction at Michigan State University, told the Guardian: 'Accurate IQ predictors will be possible, if not the next five years, the next 10 years certainly. I predict certain countries will adopt them.'
It is a grey area, but the technology is there, though it is still far more complex and involved than fixing hereditary diseases.
Experts are tentatively hoping that no one will take the first leap as ethicists try to draw up guidelines to prevent a second wave of eugenics, the controlled breeding of desirable traits which Nazis attempted to employ.
But since the bombshell announcement from Chinese scientist He Jiankui last fall, admitted he had editing the DNA of twin girls to cure them of HIV, the global community of ethicists and geneticists is grappling with how to prevent another.
Meanwhile, Genomic Prediction is steaming ahead, offering parents the first ever 'scorecard' of their embryos, which show their possible baby's risks of diseases, defects, stature, and (a rough estimate of) intelligence.
Stephen Hsu, co-founder of Genomic Prediction at Michigan State University, insists that, while it is currently not allowed in many countries including the US and the UK, we will soon come around
'Maybe the bottom 1 percent embryo will grow up to be a great person … even be a scientist, but the odds are against it,' Hsu said of the 'low IQ' embryos.
'I honestly feel if we can calculate that score and find a real negative outlier there's an ethical responsibility for us to report that.'
His words ominously echo those of the fathers of the eugenics movement in the UK
