An embryo screening service is drawing sharp criticism from scientists, ethicists and faith leaders who say the technology turns parents into shoppers and children into products.
Manhattan biotech startup Nucleus Genomics is marketing its Nucleus Embryo platform as a tool for genetic “optimization.” It allows couples undergoing in vitro fertilization to upload and rank DNA from up to 20 embryos based on potential intelligence, anxiety, addiction risk and more.
Embryos can come from whichever egg and sperm sources were used in that cycle.
For a minimum of $5,999, parents can receive “polygenic risk scores” estimating the likelihood that their future children will develop diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes or possess traits such as high IQ, low BMI, anxiety resistance or a particular eye color.
“Every parent wants to give their children more than they had,” Nucleus Genomics posted on X alongside a promotional video showing a dashboard where users can sort embryos by projected traits.
To some critics, however, the premise behind the tool is less about love and more about control.
“For some parents, it looks for things like the potential for diabetes, the potential for deafness, conditions that are treatable or healable with today’s modern medicine,” Emma Waters, policy analyst for the Center for Technology and the Human Person at The Heritage Foundation, told The Washington Times.
“But in many other cases, the ones that are equally if not more disturbing, parents are actively using this technology to select children that are the smartest, have a certain personality, are the right sex or otherwise fit their model image of what a child should be — whether that’s blue eyes or blond hair or something else,” Ms. Waters said.
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