Are We Creating 'Superhumans'? US Startup Offers IQ Screening For Embryos

A US-based company has launched a service that lets wealthy couples test their embryos for IQ amid ongoing global discussions about the ethics of modifying human embryos, according to The Guardian. The moral concerns of genetic enhancement are brought up by this controversial technology. The main ethical discussions around genome editing focus on changes to the human germline.

According to The Guardian, 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 (Rs 42,03471) 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. Experts say the development represents an ethical minefield.

The information has emerged from video recordings made by the campaign group Hope Not Hate, which went undercover to investigate separate groups of activists and academics. The Guardian reviewed the recordings and conducted further research alongside Hope Not Hate.

Katie Hasson, associate director of the Centre for Genetics and Society in California, told The Guardian: "One of the biggest problems is that it normalises this idea of'superior' and 'inferior' genetics." The rollout of such technologies, she said, "reinforces the belief that inequality comes from biology rather than social causes.".

Future generations may inherit changes made at this level, which heightens the discussion of how far such technology should be allowed to shape human characteristics.