23andMe's 'build-a-baby' patent criticised

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24381149


How ethical is it to build a perfect baby?


A US patent for a database that uses DNA testing to tell prospective parents which traits their future offspring may inherit has been criticised by experts.

23andMe says its Family Traits Inheritor Calculator can predict the risk of inheriting specific diseases as well as details such as height, weight, eye colour and even personality.

Couples send the firm a saliva sample to see what their babies might be like.

But critics have called the project "ethically and socially treacherous".

[SheilaT]

1. Interesting.

I'm one of six children. Our eye colors are as follows: brown, green, green (a different shade of green) hazel, blue, pale blue/gray.

Hair color is (was) varying shades of brown, reddish brown, and blonde.

Personalities range quite a bit, although since the youngest is now 60, it's hard to know for sure what's been influenced by life experiences and what was there at the beginning, and of course birth order matters.

And we do all have the same mother and father. So I wonder what a similar test would have predicted for my parents?

[Warpy]

2. The genome is complicated enough

that predictions covering things like intelligence and adult weight will be utterly bogus. All of us have recessive traits hiding in our own genes that can come together in ovum and sperm and give prospective parents enough surprises as it is. Just think about how many women are going to be falsely accused of being unfaithful because a kid has the "wrong" color hair, last observed in a great-great grand uncle no one remembers.

The whole thing is pretty silly, but fools and their money...