Summary
As it turns out, the fictional system in Gattaca bears a resemblance to the real-life practice of embryo selection, a technique used in in-vitro fertilization for parents experiencing fertility issues. Embryo selection occurs after pre-implantation genetic testing (known as PGT or PGD), which screens for gene mutations and birth defects in the embryo before it’s implanted in the mother’s uterus. PGT has been around for 30 years.
“The process can be used to screen out some diseases by checking the DNA of embryos and choosing not to transfer for possible implantation and birth embryos at high genetic risk for some diseases,” Henry T. (Hank) Greely, Director of Stanford University’s Center for Law and the Biosciences and the author of The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction, tells Inverse.
There are two issues with pre-implantation genetic testing in real life that Gattaca doesn’t address.
- We can only screen out rare diseases like sickle cell or Huntington’s disease, but not more common issues like heart disease, asthma, and cancer susceptibility.
- In-vitro fertilization is expensive, risky, and unpleasant — issues the movie glosses over.
But it’s worth stressing: the babies in Gattaca — and in real life — are not technically “designer babies” since they only contain the parents’ DNA, and are not genetically modified to create superhumans.
“They would not be — are not and have not since 1990 been — “super babies,” Greely says.
Limited to the genetic information in the parents’ sperm and egg, you could avoid some rare diseases or perhaps select a few traits like sex, but you cannot create a baby with characteristics perfectly tailored to your liking.
“I don’t think the premise of GATTACA is close at all,” Greely concludes, adding “Genetics is not that powerful.”
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