A U.S. startup company is offering wealthy couples the chance to screen their embryos for IQ. This is raising big ethical questions about genetic enhancement. According to secret video footage, the company, Heliospect Genomics, has already worked with more than 12 couples doing IVF.
The footage shows that Heliospect marketed its services for up to $50,000. This was for clients seeking to test 100 embryos. The company claimed its methods could produce an IQ gain of more than 6 points.
The company uses data from the UK Biobank to build its prediction tools. The UK Biobank is a genetic repository funded by taxpayers. The startup says it operates within legal rules and is currently in “stealth mode” as it develops its services.
Selecting embryos based on predicted high IQ is not allowed under UK law. But it is legal in the US, where embryology is less regulated. Experts and bioethicists have raised concerns about the ethics of this kind of genetic selection.
Dagan Wells, a professor of reproductive genetics at the University of Oxford, questioned if society wants this type of genetic testing without a full public debate first.
Screening embryos raises ethical concerns
Katie Hasson from the Center for Genetics and Society warned that these technologies could reinforce the belief that inequality comes from biology rather than social causes.
Michael Christensen, Heliospect’s Danish CEO, has promoted genetic selection as a way to ensure children are disease-free, smart, and healthy. During secret meetings, Heliospect’s team showed how couples could rank their embryos based on traits like IQ, height, obesity risk, and mental illness risk. Christensen also speculated about future possibilities of lab-grown eggs and large-scale embryo production.
However, the company later stated it would not support such practices. One of Heliospect’s senior staff is Jonathan Anomaly, an academic who has publicly defended what he calls “liberal eugenics.” This suggests that parents should be free to use technology to improve their children’s prospects. Anomaly, who joined Heliospect after leaving an academic post, has been key in advising the company on media strategy and recruiting investors and clients.
Heliospect has access to the UK Biobank data, which it claimed was used to improve the prediction of “complex traits.” However, the company did not clearly disclose its plan to use this data for embryonic screening in its application. UK Biobank confirmed that Heliospect’s usage was consistent with its access conditions. The UK has strict rules on fertility treatments, limiting tests on embryos to a list of serious health conditions.
The recordings suggest that Heliospect may be advising UK-based couples to send genetic data overseas or travel to the US for IVF to bypass UK regulations. By late 2023, Heliospect’s founders claimed to have already analyzed and helped select embryos for five couples, resulting in successful IVF implantations. Christensen stated that “there are babies on the way.”
The company emphasized its commitment to developing genomic prediction tools in a scientifically rigorous manner and supporting policy discussions about their ethical implications.
In response to questions, Anomaly pointed out that his provocative writings were intended to stimulate debate, and “liberal eugenics” is an accepted term in the academic field of bioethics.
