It looks like we are heading for a new era of eugenics, and in the not-too-distant future, instead of choosing our partner based on feelings of love, we will choose one based on the compatibility of our genes, leading scientists warn.
In the Gattaca dystopia, only people born after a thorough check of the genetic code were recognized as full members of society. Everyone else was assigned the role of cleaners.
Professor Armand Leroy of King's College London predicts that the steadily falling cost of DNA scanning means we may be moving towards a society based on genetic superiority.
Leroy said at the 2012 Euroscience Open Forum in Dublin that he believes it will be standard practice for young people in the next five to ten years to pay to gain access to their full genetic code.
It is only natural that the desire of future generations to have healthy children will lead them to want to evaluate the genetic makeup of their promising partner.
Leroy told the scientists gathered at a major conference in Dublin that with the necessary information, future couples will be able to use artificial insemination technologies to conceive a child who will not be susceptible to any incurable diseases.
However, he adds, it is unlikely that humans will have the "luxury" of using technology to create children with a particular intelligence or eye color, but instead focus more on preventing severe genetic diseases.
Speaking in a panel entitled "I am Human: Are New Scientific Discoveries Giving Up Our Identity as a Human Race", Leroy stated that the cost of genetic sequencing is falling so rapidly that "it will become very, very affordable very, very soon."
Promotional video:
As an example, he pointed out that the price of human genetic sequencing had dropped from one million ten years ago to about four thousand dollars.
He noted that in a sense, eugenics is already with us, as tens of thousands of abortions are performed every year on children with Down syndrome and other genetic diseases.
“These processes are already very widespread in most European countries,” he said. “Many of the ethical problems that arise when people talk about neo-eugenics disappear as soon as you start proposing gene selection or mate selection as a eugenic tool. We're actually getting to the definition of the genes that create a person."
“The search for the essence is a two thousand year old myth. What we have is a sense of the possibilities and role of genes,”he adds. “I am confident that genome sequencing will become available through the national health system during our lifetime. It's going to be very, very affordable very, very soon."
Dutch neuroscientist Lona Frank predicts that some countries will embrace the idea.
“Some cultures will say, 'Let's put a lot of genomes on the table and see which is the best,” says Dr. Frank. However, she adds, some others will look at it as an attempt to play Lord God.
Philip Taylor of the Christian Medical Fellowship says society must "recognize and resist the eugenic mindset."
“Our society's growing obsession with celebrity status, physical perfection and high intelligence is fueling the view that the lives of people with various disabilities or genetic diseases are in some way not worth living,” Taylor told a British newspaper.
“We must recognize and resist the eugenic way of thinking. Our priorities should be the development of drugs and supportive measures for those people who suffer from genetic diseases; not searching for and destroying these people before they were even born,”she adds.
