The first child acknowledged to have been selected as an embryo on the basis of its “polygenic risk score” is now 16 months old.
Her parents, at least one of whom is apparently a committed transhumanist, used IVF together with analysis by a company called Genomic Prediction to select one embryo for implantation from among four as having “the best genetic odds of avoiding heart disease, diabetes and cancer in adulthood.”
This is a commercial move that is essentially unregulated, scientifically and ethically controversial, and a considerable reach by the assisted-reproduction industry in the direction of techno-eugenics.
There are important differences between this technology and the more established embryo-selection procedure of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
A polygenic risk score (PRS) is a single number derived from an algorithm that summarizes the estimated effect of hundreds to millions of genetic variants on an individual’s risk of a particular condition or trait.
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PRS analysis may suggest, for instance, that one particular embryo will develop into an adult who has a lower chance of heart disease than most people.
But the prediction is far from certain and, as is well known, diet and exercise affect that risk considerably.
