Would you edit your unborn child’s genes so they were successful?

New technology could bring about the much debated designer baby, but a parent's desire to do the best for their child could create sociological problems

The phrase "designer babies" has been bandied around for decades, but parents seeking to design a baby currently have limited options. They can seek to avoid the birth of a baby with a specific genetic condition, or of an undesired sex, through pre-implantation genetic diagnoses (PGD) which involves IVF and embryo selection.

But they can only select from the available embryos, and, in the UK, only for specified health related conditions. Currently around 360 genetic conditions are licensed for PGD, and 24 are under consideration. Sex selection in UK is only permitted for sex-linked diseases, although sex selection for non-medical reasons is available commercially, mostly outside Europe.