# Genes for sale, not cheap



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Think cell phones are changing society? How about assisted reproduction, especially the rapidly-growing use of donor eggs? No genetic tinkering necessary!

What genes would you choose? What would you be willing to pay more for? Are humans smart enough to control their genetic heritage? Or should they leave it to Darwin?
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That model has served to highlight a preference among many would-be parents for tall, thin, highly-educated donors.
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And so, Dresser said, "what we have now is prospective parents making judgments about what they think 'good' genes are" - decisions that are literally changing the face of the next generation.
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Prospective parents can filter and sort potential donors by race and ethnic background, hair and eye color, and education level. They also can get much more personal information: audio of the donor's voice, photos of the donor as a child and as an adult, and written responses to questions that read like college-application essays.

Want your sperm donor to have a B.A. in political science? Want your egg donor to love animals? Want the genes of a Division I athlete? All of these are possible.
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Fertility companies freely admit that specimens from attractive donors go fast, but it's intelligence that drives the pricing: Many companies charge more for donors with a graduate degree.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/donor-eggs-sperm-banks-and-the-quest-for-‘good’-genes/ar-AAtOnyD


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

In thinking about this, there’s another side to the equation. It’s easier and more acceptable every year to abort a fetus while still in the womb. We already freely abort fetuses with what we consider defects, and can easily do the same with fetuses likely to exhibit any “bad” trait we choose. Such traits will become far more identifiable over time. I’d guess that within a year or two the genome of any fetus can be sequenced and analyzed for a couple of hundred dollars.

When we combine that with the ability to assure offspring with “good” traits of our choice, even if only by choosing egg and/or sperm donors, we have…eugenics! Only it’ll be you and I being the eugenicists, not a government.

Since assisted reproduction, just the sperm or egg donation, currently runs $30-60 thousand, this will be (already is, actually) a rich person’s game. The offspring of the rich will become more and more superior to those of the poor. That superiority will be real and heritable. A Brave New World, perhaps!

Further forecasts:
- There will be a large number of assisted reproduction services catering to different audiences.
- Many will offer the full range of services, from fetal analysis/termination to implant of eggs and/or sperm. Over time genetic manipulation of fetuses will be added to product lines.
- The top end services will offer sperm and eggs from well-vetted donors and will promise high intelligence, no serious heritable diseases (even as carriers), athletic abilities, good looks, etc.
- The low end will be much cheaper but will promise much less. There will be assurances that donors are vetted to some level, but corruption (junk donors etc.) will be a constant risk.

So, for the first time, we’ll have the ability to change not just our world but ourselves. To a great degree, we already have that! And yet, outside of certain circles these developments aren’t getting much attention.

What do you think?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

We have the technology to save ourselves and destroy ourselves. And it's the same technology, it only really depends on how, when and why we use it.


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