WOULD you like a child with sticky earwax and a penchant for marathons? Genetics company 23andme of Mountain View, California, has been granted a US patent that allows people to use DNA sequences to choose eggs and sperm that give their child certain traits. Critics charge that screening for characteristics other than disease edges close to eugenics.
The patent describes 鈥済amete donor selection鈥� that would, for example, allow a woman to choose a sperm donor whose genes would maximise the child鈥檚 health or lifespan. These are controlled by many, so-far-unknown genes, however.
After enquiries by 快猫短视频, the company denied it plans to use its technology as anything more than an engaging way to allow people to see whether their child might inherit simpler traits such as earwax texture, or muscles geared towards endurance.
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23andMe鈥檚 plans had changed in the five years since filing the patent, says spokesman Donald Cutler, but he could not say how they might change in the future.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淐hoose a baby鈥�