HEALTH
One Baby with Black Hair and
Brown Eyes – No Asthma Please
In the 1997 science fiction
film Gattaca, the future
is presented as a society
where babies’ traits are
genetically manipulated.
Almost two decades
later, this might actually
become a reality. We
explore the implications.
A SELECTION OF
GENETIC DISEASES
Thirty-six years ago, the first human to be conceived
in a petri dish took her first few breaths in this world,
much to the relief of her parents and the two doctors –
Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards – who developed
the ground-breaking procedure now known as in vitro
fertilisation (IVF) . Today, that baby named Louise
Brown is happily married with an eight-year-old son and
another on the way.
Just as how Brown has grown and developed in the past
three decades, scientists too have increasingly refined the
baby-making process, making possible options to parents
that once only existed in the pages of science fiction
novels. Now, the human race has the unprecedented
power to influence the physical characteristics of the
next generation. From removing the genetic markers
responsible for debilitating diseases to even
choosing the gender and athletic ability of
your baby, we are beginning to play Go