Lord Winston: Fertility treatments may ‘threaten our humanity’
IVF pioneer Lord Winston has warned that a growing market for fertility treatments could “threaten our humanity”, including if the rich were able to pay for so-called ‘designer babies’.
The fertility expert who developed key advancements in IVF treatment told fellow academics at a conference “we have been carried away” by breakthroughs in reproduction.
The Daily Mail reported him as saying that enthusiasm to develop fertility techniques and desperate patients has become a “toxic mix”.
During his speech at the University of Kent said: “One of the problems with our work is that we have been carried away with massive enthusiasms in reproduction.
“That mixture of enthusiasm and patient desperation is actually a very toxic and heady mixture. It is worthwhile standing back a little from the technologies that we employ.
“One of the issues of the market is that rich people may well be able to afford, in due course, the kind of enhancement to their genetics that other poor people may not be able to afford.”
The newspaper said he added that a growing market for fertility treatments and pressure to enhance human qualities could mean we “end up with a society where some people may actually have something that might threaten our humanity”.
However, he said that the “the age of eugenics” could die out as issues such as the shortage of resources, water, food and the threat of climate change become more important.
Phillippa Taylor of the Christian Medical Fellowship welcomed Lord Winston’s words.
He told the newspaper: “If Lord Winston is saying this, I hope that people take notice. He is someone who is an expert in the area but also someone who sees the bigger picture.”
But Dr Allan Pacey, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said parents are not interested in enhancing their babies’ genes.
“The law prohibits it, even if it was technically possible,” he said.
“Most infertile couples are desperate for a baby, rather than a specific type of baby, and I don’t see that changing.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
