Genetically modified Chinese cubs are another "duck"
Children are not made to order
Alexey Timoshenko, "The Attic"
Are they really going to get "designer" (whatever that means) children in China, as they wrote in a number of Russian-language media?
Screenshot of Yandex News
The editors of the "Attic" figured out this controversial news. The original source turned out to be a message in Vice (China Is Engineering Genius Babies), and far from new, but dated March 15. It tells about the BGI Cognitive Genetics Project program, the essence of which is to search for alleles of genes associated with high intelligence. Simply put, Chinese scientists are trying to find such gene variants that increase a person's chances of becoming smart.
The same gene can have several different variants or, as geneticists say, alleles. Differences between alleles affect the molecules that the gene encodes, and differences in the structure of molecules can affect the work of nerve cells. For example, special proteins are used to transmit a signal between cells, the change of which affects the transmission of a nerve impulse. Genetic differences can also lead to different cell distribution during fetal brain development.
Today it is very difficult to talk about alleles that increase human intelligence. Genetic anomalies are known that lead to a decrease in mental abilities, but it's too early to talk about "genius genes". Chinese researchers are trying to solve the problem by recruiting a large sample of obviously smart people. As Geoffrey Miller, one of the American scientists and a psychologist from New York University who submitted a DNA sample for the Chinese project, told Vice, in the future, the information collected may be useful for the selection of zygotes during in vitro fertilization.
The essence of such selection lies in the fact that researchers first receive several eggs and spermatozoa from a willing couple, and then carry out in vitro fertilization, "in vitro". Next, it turns out which of the resulting embryos (fertilized eggs) got the more successful combinations of genes, and they are transplanted into the mother's uterus. According to Jeffrey Miller, this is how selection can work, which in the future will increase the intelligence of the population. Keywords: "maybe" and "in the future".
Now in vitro fertilization is used for some types of infertility and leads to the birth of a child in about one case out of three or four, and the cost of one attempt is several thousand dollars. In addition, the determination of the genotype will require additional costs, so such a procedure is unlikely to become mass. Jeffrey Miller estimated the timing of the appearance of such screening in the period from five to ten years, although he allowed a reduction in this interval with "high motivation". According to the researcher, China is not constrained by the religious restrictions on gene technologies typical of European culture, and in addition, since the time of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese authorities have been focused on conscious management of "the quality and quantity of the population." This concept includes a campaign to limit the birth rate, and the development of methods for diagnosing congenital diseases during pregnancy. By the way, the latter are widely used outside of China — for example, for the diagnosis of trisomy 21, Down syndrome.
At the same time, Jeffrey Miller stressed that in the foreseeable future we can only talk about genetic selection, and not about purposeful modification of embryonic DNA — the technologies required for the birth of "genetically engineered children" are still very far from practical application in humans. Thus, reports of Chinese scientists who have "started creating genetically modified ideal children" are very far from reality. In addition, it should be added: Jeffrey Miller already expressed his thoughts about the Chinese eugenic program in 2013, and then he said about the same thing: the search for genes associated with high intelligence can lead to the selection of the most "successful" embryos.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.04.2015