Designer Babies, Version 1.0

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Posted by michael on Wednesday February 27, 2002 @08:36AM from the wait-till-you-see-version-7 dept.

Stickerboy writes: "A 30 year-old woman in Chicago gave birth to a pre-pregnancy genetically screened and selected baby 17 months ago, which is being reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association today. Doctors at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago took 23 eggs from her, screened the eggs for a gene that causes an early form of Alzheimer's, and then fertilized and implanted the eggs back in her womb. Shades of the movie Gattaca - this is a good specific development, but the start of a very controversial trend. Read more about it in the Washington Post or read the abstract in JAMA."

8 of 514 comments (clear)

Re:all they did was screen for alzheimers? by swordboy · 2002-02-27 08:39 · Score: 3, Funny

Yes,

Perhaps they could screen for the 'first post' gene as well...

Sigh...

--

Life is the leading cause of death in America.
hmm by mar1no · 2002-02-27 08:40 · Score: 1, Funny

They should made a terminator babe with metal as bones, that'd be sweet.

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"you sonofabitch i didn't know!"
Re:all they did was screen for alzheimers? by ShaunC · 2002-02-27 08:41 · Score: 4, Funny

>Why didn't they do anything else interesting.

They were going to, but they forgot. If only the early Alzheimer's detection had been available a generation sooner...

Shaun

--
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
Re:Some things are good some are bad by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-27 08:44 · Score: 3, Funny

Babies who look like Arnold Schwartzenegger and Maria Shriver == Bad

You're right, they should pick one person to look like and leave it at that.
Re:Extension of evolution? by volsung · 2002-02-27 08:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Of course, anytime humanity plays God, there room for abuse and evil (breeding sex slaves, mercerary warriors, etc).

It is interesting how two industries that are always well-funded are the porn industry and the military. :)
Wouldn't this be, like, 0.6? by lblack · 2002-02-27 09:15 · Score: 3, Funny

I dunno about you, but I don't release a version 1.0 until I test the completed product for deficiencies. So, we probably won't be hitting 1.0 for at least 20 years (post-puberty functions have to be checked into).

In other words, right around the same time Mozilla and OpenOffice hit it!
Re:Terminology beats thought by mav[LAG] · 2002-02-27 10:14 · Score: 4, Funny

Just using that phrase "designer babies" determines the conclusion. Put out a poll...
"are you in favor of designer babies - no"
"should potential parents with inheritable diseases have the right to pre-screen their embryos for those diseases- yes"

Don't forget option #3:

"Not sure - just as long as it doesn't look like CowboyNeal"

--
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
Re:Oh dear. by Tetrad69 · 2002-02-27 10:15 · Score: 2, Funny

Godwin's Law prov.

[Usenet] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

Sorry, no dice. ;)