The coming brave new world of designer babies

WOULD you pay US$30,000 to ensure that your future child would have a high IQ or won’t develop disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease?

Posters in New York subways now display catchphrases such as “Have your best baby”, promoting tests for genes that influence a baby’s traits, including eye colour, hair colour and intelligence. Another advertisement urges would-be parents to preview their future child.

One company, Nucleus Genomics, founded by 26-year-old Kian Sadeghi, claims, for the above fee, it will screen 20 embryos for 2,000 traits and conditions, including eye colour, acne, left-handedness and baldness.