Hollywood's Designer Babies: Ultra-Rich Forking Out $50,000 a Pop for Genetically Engineered 'Super-Smart' Kids They Believe Will Shape Our Future
Nov. 12 2024, Published 7:30 a.m. ET
Uber-wealthy couples are paying up to $50,000 to produce superbabies.
RadarOnline.com can reveal so far, more than a dozen couples who've undergone IVF have worked with Heliospect Genomics to ensure their babies have superior intelligence, according to undercover video recordings obtained by anti-fascism group Hope Not Hate.
In the footage, a Heliospect employee explained how potential parents could rank up to 100 embryos based on "IQ and the other naughty traits that everybody wants", including sex, height and their risk of obesity and mental illness.
"Everyone can have all the children they want, and they can have children that are basically disease-free, smart, healthy", Heliospect CEO Michael Christensen said on a video call in November 2023.
He explained how "lab-grown eggs would allow couples to create embryos on an industrial scale a thousand, or even a million – from which an elite selection could be handpicked for implantation.
In the future, Heliospect might also be able to screen for traits such as depression, narcissism and psychopathy, as well as for creativity and beauty.
Heliospect later denied it condoned mass embryo production or elite genetic selection.
While defenders such as philosopher Jonathan Anomaly, who now works for Heliospect said parents "should be free and maybe even encouraged to use technology to improve their children's prospects", others, like the Center for Genetics and Society's Katie Hasson, strongly disagree.
These technologies "reinforce the belief that inequality comes from biology rather than social causes", she said. Until now, IQ screening was not commercially available in the U.S.
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