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Medicine

US Startup Charging Couples To 'Screen Embryos For IQ' 130

Posted by BeauHD from the ethical-minefield dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: 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 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. [...]

The footage appears to show experimental genetic selection techniques being advertised to prospective parents. A Heliospect employee, who has been helping the company recruit clients, outlined how couples could rank up to 100 embryos based on "IQ and the other naughty traits that everybody wants," including sex, height, risk of obesity and risk of mental illness. The startup says its prediction tools were built using data provided by UK Biobank, a taxpayer-funded store of genetic material donated by half a million British volunteers, which aims to only share data for projects that are "in the public interest".

Selecting embryos on the basis of predicted high IQ is not permitted under UK law. While it is legal in the US, where embryology is more loosely regulated, IQ screening is not yet commercially available there. Asked for comment, managers at Heliospect said the company, which is incorporated in the US, operated within all applicable law and regulations. They said Heliospect was in "stealth mode" before a planned public launch and was still developing its service. They added that clients who screened fewer embryos were charged about $4,000, and that pricing on launch would be in line with competitors. Leading geneticists and bioethicists said the project raised a host of moral and medical issues.
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US Startup Charging Couples To 'Screen Embryos For IQ' More

US Startup Charging Couples To 'Screen Embryos For IQ'

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  • The GOP is calling for the end of IVF.

    • But Trump just said the other day that he was "The Father of IVF" in a room full of women. Surely he wouldn't be lying.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Hadlock ( 143607 )

      IVF is hugely popular on both sides of the asile, I don't think it's going anywhere

    • What is this GOP you are talking about? Is that why you got the Funny moderation?

      Actually I think the moderation was intended to censor your comment, even though it was a rather weak FP. However my proposed Subject is something of a poison pill and unlikely to lead to any sort of constructive discussion... Too many childless cat boys on Slashdot?

      (Yeah, I'm often going for Funny mods, but these jokes are not the droids you are looking for...)

  • Mistake (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @05:56PM (#64875809)
    People with high IQs are known to have worse problems with anxiety and depression. Yet it means very little in terms of potential for success in the world. Don't know why parents would want to do that to a kid.

    • Re: Mistake (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TJHook3r ( 4699685 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @06:15PM (#64875865)
      If you want happy kids, just gift them below-average IQ, good strength and an interest in sports and beer. Intelligent people may or may not be prone to medical depression but it sure must be depressing living in late-stage capitalism and still working all hours to survive!
    • Might be easier to select for happiness than intelligence. Or maybe even that rare (according to you) combo of both.
    • If those traits could also be isolated to specific genes they could also be select for high IQ individuals who dont express those traits. There may be some genes that increase both, but I think it's fairly obvious that the correlation isn't 100%.

      • It is more like playing with fire. For every thing one might find a positive correlation there could be numerous negative other traits not considered.

        Genuinely wise people are those that as they learn more, they learn that they know a lot less then they thought.

        This is a very dangerous path, and should likely be illegal. It is one thing to screen for major disease. It is quite another to try and make designer babies.

    • You clearly have not met an Asian parent.
    • Numbers go brrrr! It's like 90s CPU clock speed for meatbags; finding a stat to brag about
    • That's not true. IQ is the single greatest predictor of career success and life success.
      • References?
        • Page 83 "g can be said to be the most powerful single predictor of overall job performance. " g being intelligence. IQ is a measure of g corrected for age. https://www1.udel.edu/educ/got... [udel.edu]
          • This study only says that intelligence is important for complex jobs (duh). It says nothing about being able to do complex jobs makes people more successful in life. I would say a nursing home care worker is a complex job, but they get paid crap. I only skimmed the article, if it talks about life success anywhere please point it out.
            • Are you serious? You don't see the connection to between success in complex jobs vs. life success? FWIW, IQ is also highly correlated with income. This is perhaps the most well known and well researched part of all of psychology.
              • Sorry to break it to you, but the the wealthy and powerful people who shape our lives are not extraordinarily intelligent. Some are, some aren't. But unless you are on the autistic spectrum, what matters more is family background and connections. All I was doing was pointing out that the reference did not disprove the point i made.
                • I didn't say that all high earners had high IQs, only that there was a substantial correlation and predictive power. This has been well established. The predictive power of IQ predicting forms of life success such as education attained, work performance, and income is the most well researched in out of all predictions that social science makes. Wealth on the other hand is not correlated with IQ.
                  • Still doesn't mean they will be more successful or happier in the end.
                    • Well that is right, it doesn't have 100% R^2. It's not a perfect predictor. There are always exceptions. Attractive women can make a lot of money on OnlyFans with a low IQ.
                    • Also there are plenty of very smart people who are in low paying jobs because they just didn't find a good path in life. R Or because they didn't want to do anything else.

  • Here comes.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kelxin ( 3417093 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @05:58PM (#64875819)
    The age of sociopaths, or are we already in it?

  • I could raise IQ by more than 6 points. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jddj ( 1085169 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @06:00PM (#64875829) Journal

    Don't give the young'un a smartphone or tablet and keep 'em TF away from Fox "News" and the like.

    • Honestly if you really want more intelligent kids (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @06:21PM (#64875877)
      Cleaner air and water coupled with free school lunches is a better way to do it. Also more assistance to pregnant women. We cut WIC massively and we slashed the Medicaid resources they rely on. We're going to have some pretty major problems in about 15 years because of that.

      Of course the people who cut WIC and Medicare are also going to campaign on tough on crime bullshit so I guess they need it to create a new generation of petty criminals for them to win elections with...
      • In propaganda politics you don't even need to create a new set of evil doers. In the real world violent crime statistics are down across the board, but Republican hate mongers are still screaming about crime in racist dog-whistle rhetoric.
      • If the free school lunches are full of HFCS and devoid of any actual nutritional value, they'll probably do more harm than good. The air quality in the U.S. is better now than it was 100 years ago and water quality is generally good as well. There was a previous story about too much fluoride potentially resulting in lower IQ, but the water quality for the average American is also better now than it was 100 years ago.

        Your other claim about WIC funding being cut is false. There is lower spending, but that'

        • A truer post I have not seen in ages. I wish I could mod parent up.

          Further, if you want intelligent/successful/happy kids: keep them away far away from "social media", buy them good books, and regularly have conversations, play, and praise for them. Figure out their strengths and encourage them. Set realistic goals for them, and find activities that grow their strengths. And please teach them responsibility.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sique ( 173459 )
          The correlation between single parent families and crime could be a causation in the reverse direction. If you incarcerate a sizeable portion of the male population, you'll generate single families. And you create a surplus of women, so the remaining free men have more than one potential partner, allowing them to choose and leave their previous families (we had the same effect after World War II).
        • We're talking about kids who don't have enough calories to function. It doesn't matter how low quality the calories are they just don't have them and so it's better to get them some food.

          I cannot even imagine The level of narcissistic privilege that goes into a comment like what you just made.

          I don't think you actually believe anything you wrote I think you just really really don't want to give hungry children food and you're desperately trying to come up with a reason to do it.

          • Wtf...Dude...you yourself are proof positive that poor people basically don't starve in this country, indeed they often have the opposite problem.

            When it does happen, it's typically due to food deserts, and you yourself brush off, excuse, and in many respects condone the exact behavior that causes them in the first place.

      • Cleaner air and water, as well as more self-reliant children, could be realized by reducing and even penalizing dependence on single passenger automobiles for every little thing. However neither Ds nor Rs show any interest in this cultural shift. How depressing.

      • I'd venture a guess that parents who are paying to have their potential offspring Gattaca'd probably earn too much to qualify for government assistance benefits. Even if this ends up being snake oil, it might still appear to work since kids generally do end up more successful when parents have the means to give them every advantage money can buy.

        Yeah, I do realize sometimes children of the wealthy turn out to be layabouts despite having every opportunity handed to them. As the old saying goes, you can lea

      • The main people WIC and Medicaid are benefiting are the people that don't give two shits to help with society. I've watched it first have over two dozen times. Saw a woman just two months ago that does Walmart delivery for income but would refuse to work past a certain point because it would make her have to pay more than $500 a month for rent on her low income housing. All she would do is lay in bed, smoke pot and watch TV and that's all she wants for her life. She has two kids, a drug dealer that she
      • Some school programs now provide three meals daily. I don't know how schools can do more than that.
    • Also keep them TF away from /.

      No, seriously keep them TF away from /. It's just as depressing and often as brain damaged as any other social media site out there.

      I really need to change my sig to "Slashdot: The Internet Depression Generator." /s

  • There's a sucker born every minute (Score:3)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @06:19PM (#64875875)
    But I wish they'd at least wait for the sucker to be born...

  • Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGS) is available for years, and the potential to use the mutations that are known linked to intelligence is done for years as well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] DNA sequencing in adults already provide those (supposed) indications on intelligence. It's just very controversial to select embryos based on such criteria, so until now it wasn't presented to parents that way. Maybe regulations evolved (or devolved) such that now the implantation criteria are not anymore con

  • Parents: No Comment (Score:3)

    by cstacy ( 534252 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @06:56PM (#64875967)

    The Bashirs were unavailable for comment.

  • I'm surprised they're not claiming to use " AI " to determine an unborn's IQ score :|

    I find this quote to be more and more relevant as time goes on:

    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. - Ernest Hemingway

  • The cycle continues
  • "Naughty traits?" How has no one commented on that? I was already expecting this story of 21st-century eugenics to be chiiling, but my hair stood up so fast hearing that that my hat came off. And it's knit! That's fucking Missy Mengele shit.

  • I bet they could complete this puzzle:

    A ____ and his money are soon ________.

    It's too bad they can't figure it out in time to save their gullible parents $50K, though.

  • No really, how else are we to compete with robots? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • Probably is one...

  • Waste of money, even if it worked.

    Whoever buys it is just plain stoopid for believing it.
    So, can't be smart enough to have smart genes to pass on to your kids.
    So, if you insist, fill the forms, write the check, do all the p's & q's, then, at the last moment just before you click "Send" or drop it in the mailbox, or whatever, - STOP - you have your answer.
    Now tear up the check and buy a condom.

    (If you haven't seen or read Joseph Heller's "Catch 22", it is about army fliers in Italy during WWII. They all

  • At this point it is probably mostly taking rich people’s money. But we are not that far off before something like this is feasible.

  • And I'm sure all paperwork has lots of protection for the company and weasel language to blunt any protections like lawsuits.

    Meaning since we can't force people to be honest when talking (in person, during ads, even when recorded and announced to the world), maybe we should try to when they take someone else's money for a claimed purpose? Should companies be required to reliably prove they do what they get paid for?

  • Have several tiers of service you offer. The for every extra 5k the parents are willing to spend, knock 5 points off the kid's predicted IQ.

  • Fools and their money... (Score:3)

    by ndykman ( 659315 ) on Friday October 18, 2024 @10:12PM (#64876293)

    Honestly. All of those are very complicated factors that will vary greatly given the environment. I mean just on the gene side, you have epigenetics effects, environmental impact on gene expression. Say nothing of just the plain environmental impacts.

    No to mention that IQ isn't that great of predictor of overall success compared to emotional and social skills combined with the ability to practice and delay gratification.

    But, hey, go on with your neo-eugenic dog whistles there, random bio-startup company.

    • Don't panic. This problem will literally sort itself out given time. After all, Natural Selection loves variety and hates monocultures.

  • If (couple.paid_for_this_service):
                  baby.IQ=low

  • There are lots of genetic correlations with performance on IQ tests, its well known that different cultures score differently. That doesn't mean that the genetics is *causing* the different scores. (nor does it imply the tests are measuring "intelligence" in any useful way).

    Unless the company is going to do a lot of embryo selection and double-blind tests (which would have all sorts of ethical issues) wait say 15 years and see how the children do, I don't see any way for the company to demonstrate the ef
  • It's the intentional creation and subsequent destruction of human lives. Layering in dystopian eugenics is just the frosting on this sh-t cake.

    • Came here to see an anti-abortionist losing their shit over this because they think that an egg with a sperm in it is a person, can now leave satisfied :-)

    • Out of curiosity, if the couple paid to keep unimplanted embryos frozen for 100 years (the high end of a human lifespan) and only then just them thaw out (when the embryos, if allowed to develop into adults, would have died by then anyway), would that be any better?

      I'm making popcorn to watch the mental gymnastics required to continue to say it's even.

      • It's not any better.
        • Because?
          • From a Catholic perspective, IVF (in vitro fertilization) is viewed as a moral evil because it separates the creation of human life from the loving, committed act of marital union and can involve practices that are contrary to the dignity of human life. This teaching is rooted in the belief that God created marriage as a unique covenant, where procreation is an act that flows naturally from the love between husband and wife, expressed through their physical and spiritual union. The Catholic Church teaches t
            • Well, all of that is made up out of whole cloth since the bible never mentions IVF. As usual, humans have extrapolated to match their pre-conceived notions.

              • In Catholic teaching, relying solely on Scripture overlooks the inseparable role of Sacred Tradition in understanding God’s revelation. Jesus established the Church and entrusted the apostles to pass down His teachings, both orally and in written form. This oral Tradition helped early Christians discern the canon of Scripture and interpret its meanings. Key passages, such as Paul’s instruction in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to “hold fast to the traditions” taught by word or letter, show tha

  • The standard deviation on most IQ tests (there are more than one) is around 10 points. You literally get later swings in your IQ score from skipping a meal or drinking caffeine. This is just a scam for rich racist idiots who have bought into thoroughly debunked eugenics.
  • ...are easily parted.

    • Unfortunately Ayn Rand was as wrong about this as she was about most everything else, rich people usually have large passive income streams and can get away with doing incredibly stupid things with their money throughout their entire lives, and then pass those income streams onto their heirs.

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