Well, this might make more sense than scheming to get kids into the right university when they haven’t even finished high school. A recent survey conducted by researchers from Geisinger, University of Southern California, UCLA, National Bureau of Economic Research, and Harvard University found that the U.S. public has a potential interest in the use of genetic tech to enhance offspring education.
Published in the journal Science, the research concludes that Americans are willing to use unregulated reproductive genetic technology to increase the chances that their child will eventually be admitted to a top-100-ranked college. Those with college degrees and those under 35 years of age are more willing to use polygenic embryo screening combined with in vitro fertilization (IVF) to accomplish the goal.
Polygenic risk scores can estimate disease risk and other traits — based on an individual’s genes. Private companies working with IVF clinics already offer the service to patients who want an embryo with a lower chance of developing diabetes, cancer, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or schizophrenia.
The researchers used a large, nationally representative sample, asking how likely parents-to-be were to use polygenic screening, CRISPR-style gene editing, or standard SAT prep course training to increase the odds of their child getting into a top-100 ranked college, assuming that they were already using IVF and that all options were free and safe. Results include:
- 68%) said they were more likely than not to use SAT prep
- Substantial minorities were more likely than not to use gene editing (28%) and polygenic screening (38%) for this purpose
When the researchers told survey takers that most people in a position to use these services would do so, respondents were more likely to say that they would too.
However, nature and nurture will still play a major role. Embryos selected via this technology may face a very different environment as an adult that lowers predictive power.
Even though companies and IVF clinics could exaggerate their results, it seems the public is still interested…
