Reprogenetics and the future

Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like germinal choice technology become more available and more powerful. The term was coined by Lee M. Silver, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton University, in his 1997 book Remaking Eden.

In Silver's formulation, reprogenetics will involve advances in a number of technologies not yet achieved, but not inherently impossible. Among these are improvements in interpreting the effects of different expressions of DNA, the ability to harvest large numbers of embryos from females, and a far higher rate of reinsertion of embryos into host mothers. The end result, according to Silver, is that those parents who can afford it will be able to pick out the genetic characteristics of their own children, which Silver says will trigger a number of social changes in the decades after its implementation. Possible early applications, however, might be closer to eliminating disease genes passed on to children.

According to Silver, the main differences between reprogenetics and eugenics, the " science" of improving the gene pool which in the first half of the 20th century became infamous for the brutal policies it inspired, is that most eugenics programs were compulsory programs imposed upon citizens by governments trying to enact an ultimate goal.

Reprogenetics, by contrast, would be pursued by individual parents, who would be trying to improve their children with the same motivations that compel them to purchase expensive courses in preparation for standardised testing (e.g. the SAT).

Eugenics would have required a continual selection for breeding of the " fit", and a culling of the " unfit" while, according to bioethicist James Hughes, universal access to reprogenetics provided by a welfare state would permit the conversion of all the unfit to the highest genetic level. However, he shares Silver's concern that unequal access to reprogenetics could create a two-tiered society of " GenRich" and " GenPoor", genetically-engineered " haves" and " have nots" (see the film Gattaca for a fictional depiction of the latter scenario).

The other contrast is that it is now known that the concept of genetic purity through eugenics is misguided: this form of genetic purity, insofar as it is meaningful, is effectively inbreeding and results in poor health and infertility while the end result of reprogenetics on the gene pool would be reduced incidence of genetic disease and potentially increased genetic IQ.