Germinal choice technology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Germinal choice technology refers to a set of technologies that currently or that are expected to in the future allow parents to influence the genetic constitutions of their children. This could be done through genetic screening of blastocysts (early embryos), or through germline engineering, which refers to genetic engineering used to alter genes in the first cells of the blastocyst.

Screening technologies have been in use since at least the mid 1990's to reduce the incidence of genetic disease, and what can be tested for is expected to become increasingly sophisticated in the late 2000's or early 2010's. Maturation in these fields would increase the range and sophistication of decisions open to parents. Germline engineering and even the engineering of artificial chromosomes (which presently allow increased reliability) are presently being done in animals.