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Canadian scientist issues warning about ‘designer babies’

We're rapidly closing in on the ability to design babies the way we design cars, says one of Canada's top researchers into reproductive medicine, but we haven't set any ground rules.

Dr. Roger Pierson, director of the Reproductive Biology Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan, says new techniques are allowing scientists to screen for an expanding number of genetic diseases, making it easier for parents to decide what future baby they want to bring into the world.

"We desperately need a national think-tank on how we're going to accept or reject or implement the changes that are coming," Pierson told Postmedia News. "Instead, we're still focusing on problems as old as the technology itself.

"We're still worrying about, 'Do we disclose the identity of sperm donors?' We haven't caught up with the old yet, let alone have the foresight to go into this coming world with the depth that we need to."

Pierson's comments came as a U.S.-based embryo-screening firm is preparing to set up shop in Canada.

Dr. Santiago Munne, who developed the first pre-implantation genetic test to detect Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities, is mulling opening branches of his Reprogenetics lab in Toronto and Montreal.

Munne sees Montreal as fertile territory, so to speak, because the Quebec government now funds up to three in-vitro fertilization treatments for couples having difficulty conceiving. Ontario is considering a similar program and other provinces may follow suit.

Quebec's rules require that only one embryo be implanted at a time, a requirement that Munne says makes screening more necessary.

Postmedia reported pre-natal genetic diagnosis aims to select genetically "normal" embryos created through in-vitro fertilization before they are transferred into a woman's uterus. It can spot anomalies in embryos as little as two days old, allowing couples at high risk of transmitting serious hereditary diseases to their children.

But scientists are discovering almost every adult disease has an origin in the embryo or fetus, raising the prospect of being able to screen for things such as early onset Alzheimer's or heart problems, Pierson said.

It might also allow parents to select different traits for their kids, such as musical ability or math skills, he says.

"Then we start getting into much more delicate territory," Pierson said. "The territory is, you design what you want."

But Munne dismissed Pierson's worries.

"I don't have any problem with perfect babies," he said.

The field of reproductive technology has always been riven with controversy, from the use of amniocentesis by some couples to ensure they have a male child, to selectively destroying embryos after in-vitro fertilization.

And there' s more controversy.

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper is reporting the world's largest sperm bank, Cryos International, is turning away redhead sperm donors.

"There are too many redheads in relation to demand," Ole Schou, Cryos's director, told Danish newspaper Ekstrabladet.

The highest demand for redheads apparently comes from Ireland, says Schou, where it sells like "hot cakes."

(Getty Images)