A leading fertility expert has warned that recent developments in IVF could lead to a surge in eugenic practices and result in rich parents creating designer babies.
Pressure
Professor Robert Winston warned that the growing market for fertility treatments and pressure to enhance human attributes could result in the rich paying for children with an altered appearance and increased intellectual ability.
Speaking at a conference at the University of Kent titled “Reflections on IVF technology – will we be human in 100 years?” he said:
“One of the problems with our work is that we have been carried away with massive enthusiasms in reproduction. That mixture of enthusiasm and patient desperation is actually a very toxic and heady mixture. It is worthwhile standing back a little from the technologies that we employ.
“That mixture of enthusiasm and desperation [for a baby] is very toxic ... we could end up with something that might threaten our humanity.”
Dangers
He told fellow experts that advances in screening technology meant that scientists working with IVF needed to be particularly aware of the potential dangers.
“One of the issues of the market is that rich people may well be able to afford, in due course, the kind of enhancement to their genetics that other poor people may not be able to afford,” he said.
He warned that developments in IVF could lead to a “society where some people may actually have something that might threaten our humanity”.
“Perfect baby”
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics said that IVF gives people the opportunity to think about having a perfect baby. She added: ‘In many aspects, the opportunities to think about best and better are increasing by the moment.’
Philippa Taylor, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: “If Lord Winston is saying this, I hope that people take notice. He is someone who is an expert in the area but also someone who sees the bigger picture.”
Sources: