Should We Fear ‘Designer Babies’?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2019
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In November 2018, a Chinese scientist stunned the world by announcing that he had successfully edited the genes of two embryos. These twins had their DNA changed to try and make them resistant to HIV, it was only successful in one.
Shock and outrage followed as the media proclaimed that the age of the designer baby had arrived and we had opened a door that could never be closed. The Chinese government ordered an inquiry and the scientist rumoured to be put under house arrest.
For many in the genetics community it had only been a matter of time until this happened. The game changer came in the form of a new technology known as CRISPR, a relatively simple and cheap way of changing genes. One that could be used in fertility clinics worldwide.
Does this now mean an age of elite super humans could be born to the ultra-rich? Children created with superior traits, tall, beautiful and hyper intelligent.
The truth is not so simple. This week we ask: should we fear ‘designer babies’?
Producer: Jordan Dunbar Presenter: Michael Blastland
(picture: foetus in utero /Getty images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Michael Blasland. |
| 0:08.0 | Each week one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:13.0 | Late last year a Chinese scientist, |
| 0:20.0 | He had Jian Kui, announced that he had successfully edited the DNA of twin human embryos, |
| 0:26.1 | now newborn baby girls. Okay, thank you. |
| 0:34.0 | First, I must apologize that this result leaked unexpectedly. |
| 0:42.0 | Taking away from the community. that this result leaked unexpectedly. |
| 0:45.0 | The reaction, many scientists were appalled. |
| 0:48.6 | Politicians condemned him. |
| 0:50.4 | He is now under house arrest. The phrase everywhere in the media was designer baby. |
| 0:58.0 | Claim creates uproar, reported the Washington Post. |
| 1:01.0 | It spoke of ethical violation saying the technology had the |
| 1:05.2 | potential to alter the human species. This week authorities revealed that a second woman |
| 1:10.9 | was pregnant with a gene-edited baby. |
| 1:14.5 | How alarmed should we be? |
| 1:16.6 | And why? |
| 1:18.0 | Does Design a Baby suggest that parents might soon pick traits for their offspring like handbags. |
| 1:24.0 | I'd like a mass genius, says one. I'd like a musical prodigy, says another. |
| 1:29.0 | Or maybe you see a dark future in which some rogue regime sets out to create a master race. |
| 1:36.7 | This week we ask, should you fear designer babies? Designer Babies |
| 1:44.0 | Part 1 |
| 1:46.0 | They're not handbags What I remember is the noise of the cameras. |
... |
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