At the beginning of December, “scientific communicator and video producer” Hashem Al-Ghaili published a video on his LinkedIn page and his YouTube channel titled:
Introducing EctoLife, the world’s first artificial womb facility, which can incubate up to 30,000 babies annually.
Or if you prefer, you can take your artificial womb home and raise your baby in your bedroom. And by the way, if you have any minor preferences for the genetic composition of your future child – disease resistance, high intelligence, etc. – this can also be taken care of. A genetic test of the baby will confirm its origin from you. And there will be no problem searching for surrogate mothers or relying on the unpredictable results of old-fashioned conception.
These announcements, of course, fall short of reality. Nevertheless, the British Daily Mirror highlighted the issue, displaying great hostility in the headline, but no skepticism in the report: Terrifying “artificial womb facility” where parents can choose their baby’s characteristics.
A few more news outlets picked up the story, with most simply reproducing the press release. Rachel Moss at HuffPost called it science fiction, but argued that it could happen, and cited Andrew Shennan, a professor of obstetrics at King’s College London, who supported that “the ethical battles have been largely exhausted with the advent of in vitro fertilization… In a way, you’re just asking the machine to become the surrogate mother, instead of another woman”…
But what is happening? Al-Ghaili has obviously put in a lot of effort and invested considerable money into this, but why? It could be an elaborate art project reminiscent of Alba, the glowing bunny [in 2000, American-Brazilian artist Eduardo Kac presented one of his most famous works, Alba, a green rabbit that fluoresced, in Avignon, in collaboration with a French biotechnology lab], but with even less scientific value and a much more elaborate presentation in the media. Most likely, it is intended as advertising for his business and his trademark, which have to do with the “imagination of the future,” “making science accessible,” and similar nonsense. Al-Ghaili is also on Instagram and Facebook, and he has an accessible Google Drive. On his YouTube channel, this video is currently the second most popular, behind a nuclear-powered hotel in the sky, for which the most popular comment is: What if we combined the Titanic with the Hindenburg and then put a nuclear reactor in it? What would happen if…
The popularity of this comment restored my faith in humanity, which sometimes shrinks. As did one of the most popular comments on EctoLife’s video on YouTube: I’m glad to see the comments! I almost thought I might be the only one who believes this is disgusting.
Obviously, this particular project is not ready for prime time slots on channels—or to be selected as a Christmas gift anytime soon. However, the future vision it promotes is a vision that some scientists and entrepreneurs in the fertility industry would like to make a reality, as we have discussed several times. And certainly, despite Professor Shennan’s simplistic attempt to downplay the issues, there are many ethical as well as physical risks that must be taken into account. A very distinguished panel discussed “The perfect baby? The risks of genetic modification in assisted reproduction” in August at an event co-organized by the Center for Genetics and Society and the University of Berkeley. The event, which included bioethicist Françoise Baylis, reproductive justice activist Nourbese Flint, and disability researcher and activist Karen Nakamura, was based on the recent report “Engineering for Perfection: The False Promises of Gene Editing in Assisted Reproduction” by Meghna Mukherjee and Nairi Shirinian, who also participated.
If Al-Ghaili’s advertising trick leads to more and better-informed discussion of these issues, then perhaps it may have some value, even though it itself has none. We need education and discussion, not superficial fantasies.
Original title: «Bespoke Babies Without the Hassle of Pregnancy! Yeah, Right»
Source: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/biopolitical-times/bespoke-babies-without-hassle-pregnancy-yeah-right
Translation: Harry Tuttle