Inside Silicon Valley billionaires 'dangerous' bid to engineer genetically superior babies... and the people prepared to pay a fortune to 'accelerate evolution'
Daily Mail • • health
Key Points:
- Arthur Zey and Chase Popp chose their one-month-old son Dax from six embryos screened for traits like IQ, height, and health risks, making him a pioneer in commercial genetic embryo selection.
- The technology, offered by companies like Herasight at high costs (around $50,000), analyzes embryos for polygenic traits, though experts remain skeptical about the accuracy and ethical implications of predicting complex traits such as intelligence.
- Silicon Valley investors back some gene-editing startups aiming to enhance human traits, sparking ethical concerns about eugenics, inequality, and potential misuse by authoritarian regimes, with critics warning of risks and moral dilemmas.
- While gene editing in embryos is currently banned in many countries, genetic screening for hereditary diseases is
