Why Making A 'Designer Baby' Would Be Easier Said Than Done
Ethical concerns aside, the genetic ingredients for human traits are so complex that editing a few embryonic genes is unlikely to have much effect — or achieve the fantasy of enhancing humans.
Scientists continue to speak out against the prospect of producing engineered embryos that could lead to so-called designer babies.
Leaders of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy sent a letter on April 24 to the secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, adding their voices to the call for a moratorium on experiments that could alter the genes passed down to future generations.
This move follows a widely criticized experiment in China last year that apparently produced children with edited genomes.
The concern is largely ethical. The reality is biologists probably couldn't produce designer
