A ‘Press Release from the Future’ Announces Service for Parents to Genetically Engineer Their Kids

In the future, parents may have the option to genetically engineer their children, and now is the time to discuss how this powerful technology should (or should not) be used.
Most people don't recognize how significantly and soon the genetic revolution will transform healthcare, the way we make babies, and the nature of the babies we make. The press release below is a thought experiment today. Within a decade, it won't be. * * *
Genomix Launches uDarwin, a New Business to Help Parents Optimize the Health, Well-Being, and Beneficial Traits of their Future Offspring
NEW YORK, July 29, 2029 /PRMediawire/ -- Genomix, a Caribbean-based health and wellness company, today announced the launch of uDarwin, a discrete, confidential service helping parents select and edit the pre-implanted embryos of their future children.
"Our mission is to help prospective parents realize their dream of parenthood in the safest manner possible while helping them optimize their future children's potential."
"We often fetishize nature," said Genomix Medical Director and Co-Founder Dr. Noam Heller, "but the traditional process of conception through sex confers risks on future children that can be significantly reduced through the careful and safe application of powerful new technologies."
Approximately three percent of all children are born with some type of harmful genetic mutation. Through its patented process of extracting eggs from the prospective mother, fertilizing these eggs with sperm from the intended father or from one of the superstar donor samples in the proprietary uDarwin gene bank, and screening up to twenty of these embryos prior to implantation, this risk can be brought down to under one percent.
"Having a baby is the most intimate and important experience in most people's lives," said Genomix CEO and co-founder Rich Azadian. "Our mission is to help prospective parents realize their dream of parenthood in the safest manner possible while helping them optimize their future children's potential."
In addition to screening pre-implanted embryos to significantly reduce disease risk, uDarwin uses its proprietary algorithm for the "polygenic scoring" of embryos to directionally predict potential future attributes including healthspan, height, IQ, personality style, and other complex genetic traits. Attributes once accepted as being the result of fate or chance can now increasingly be selected by parents from among their own natural embryos using this entirely safe process.
A premium product offering, uDarwin+, provides parents the opportunity to make up to three single gene mutations to their selected embryo to reduce a risk or confer a particular benefit. Among the most popular options for this service include increased resistance to HIV and other viruses, a greater ability to build muscle mass, and enhanced cognition. Additional edits will be made available as the science of human genome editing further advances.
Jamie Metzl's new book, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, explores how the genetic revolution is transforming our healthcare, the way we make babies, and the nature of and babies we make, what this means for each of us, and what we must all do now to prepare for what's coming.
"uDarwin is proud to be the first company in the world offering the highest level of reproductive choice to parents," Mr. Azadian continued. "Genetic technologies are allowing us for the first time to crack the code of our health and identity. As pioneers in applying the most advanced genetic technologies to human reproduction, we recognize that prospective parents' desire for the services we offer exceeds societal levels of comfort with this technology. Our highest levels of customer service, comfort, and confidentiality ensure parents can secure massive benefits for their future children while avoiding unnecessary attention or any compromise of privacy."
All uDarwin services will be carried out in the company's state-of-the-art clinic aboard a super-luxury 500-foot yacht operating in international waters. After applying on the secure uDarwin website and gaining approval, clients are provided a date, time, and location to meet a company representative at a conveniently located Caribbean marina from where they will be shuttled to the uDarwin clinic. "Pioneers have always traveled beyond boundaries to create new possibilities," Mr. Azadian added. "Conceiving a child in a location where it can receive the greatest benefits of advanced science is no different."
"Pioneers have always traveled beyond boundaries to create new possibilities."
The cost of the basic uDawin service is $5 million, with half paid up front and half paid following the successful birth of a baby. Charges for uDarwin+, premium sperm or egg donors, surrogates, and other services are additional. "uDarwin is not for everyone," Mr. Azadian said, "but most parents of significant means understand that the benefits of optimal genetics far exceed almost any monetary cost."
"The genetic revolution has already begun," Medical Director Heller added. "The question for prospective parents is whether they want to be the last parents who left the health and identity of their future children to chance or the first to give their future children the greatest chance of optimal health and maximal fulfillment in the new reality that will arrive far sooner than most people appreciate."
If you could genetically alter your future children, would you? https://t.co/N0tqwX4Qd3— leapsmag (@leapsmag) 1564426548.0
Following the Footsteps of a 105-Year-Old Sprinter
No human has run a distance of 100 meters faster than Usain Bolt’s lightning streak in 2009. He set this record at age 22. But what will Bolt’s time be when he’s 105?
At the Louisiana Senior Games in November 2021, 105-year-old Julia Hawkins of Baton Rouge became the oldest woman to run 100 meters in an official competition, qualifying her for this year's National Senior Games. Perhaps not surprisingly, she was the only competitor in the race for people 105 and older. In this Leaps.org video, I interview Hawkins about her lifestyle habits over the decades. Then I ask Steven Austad, a pioneer in studying the mechanisms of aging, for his scientific insights into how those aspiring to become super-agers might follow in Hawkins' remarkable footsteps.
Following the Footsteps of a 105-Year-Old Sprinter
No human has run a distance of 100 meters faster than Usain Bolt’s lightning streak in 2009. He set this record at age 22. But what will Bolt’s time be when ...Matt Fuchs is the editor-in-chief of Leaps.org. He is also a contributing reporter to the Washington Post and has written for the New York Times, Time Magazine, WIRED and the Washington Post Magazine, among other outlets. Follow him on Twitter @fuchswriter.
Monkeypox produces more telltale signs than COVID-19. Scientists think that a “ring” vaccination strategy can be used when these signs appear to help with squelching the current outbreak of this disease.
A new virus has emerged and stoked fears of another pandemic: monkeypox. Since May 2022, it has been detected in 29 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico among international travelers and their close contacts. On a worldwide scale, as of June 30, there have been 5,323 cases in 52 countries.
The good news: An existing vaccine can go a long way toward preventing a catastrophic outbreak. Because monkeypox is a close relative of smallpox, the same vaccine can be used—and it is about 85 percent effective against the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Also on the plus side, monkeypox is less contagious with milder illness than smallpox and, compared to COVID-19, produces more telltale signs. Scientists think that a “ring” vaccination strategy can be used when these signs appear to help with squelching this alarming outbreak.
How it’s transmitted
Monkeypox spreads between people primarily through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or bodily fluids. People also can catch it through respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As of June 30, there have been 396 documented monkeypox cases in the U.S., and the CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center to mobilize additional personnel and resources. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is aiming to boost testing capacity and accessibility. No Americans have died from monkeypox during this outbreak but, during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020 to date), Africa has documented 12,141 cases and 363 deaths from monkeypox.
Ring vaccination proved effective in curbing the smallpox and Ebola outbreaks. As the monkeypox threat continues to loom, scientists view this as the best vaccine approach.
A person infected with monkeypox typically has symptoms—for instance, fever and chills—in a contagious state, so knowing when to avoid close contact with others makes it easier to curtail than COVID-19.
Advantages of ring vaccination
For this reason, it’s feasible to vaccinate a “ring” of people around the infected individual rather than inoculating large swaths of the population. Ring vaccination proved effective in curbing the smallpox and Ebola outbreaks. As the monkeypox threat continues to loom, scientists view this as the best vaccine approach.
With many infections, “it normally would make sense to everyone to vaccinate more widely,” says Wesley C. Van Voorhis, a professor and director of the Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. However, “in this case, ring vaccination may be sufficient to contain the outbreak and also minimize the rare, but potentially serious side effects of the smallpox/monkeypox vaccine.”
There are two licensed smallpox vaccines in the United States: ACAM2000 (live Vaccina virus) and JYNNEOS (live virus non-replicating). The ACAM 2000, Van Voorhis says, is the old smallpox vaccine that, in rare instances, could spread diffusely within the body and cause heart problems, as well as severe rash in people with eczema or serious infection in immunocompromised patients.
To prevent organ damage, the current recommendation would be to use the JYNNEOS vaccine, says Phyllis Kanki, a professor of health sciences in the division of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. However, according to a report on the CDC’s website, people with immunocompromising conditions could have a higher risk of getting a severe case of monkeypox, despite being vaccinated, and “might be less likely to mount an effective response after any vaccination, including after JYNNEOS.”
In the late 1960s, the ring vaccination strategy became part of the WHO’s mission to globally eradicate smallpox, with the last known natural case described in Somalia in 1977. Ring vaccination can also refer to how a clinical trial is designed, as was the case in 2015, when this approach was used for researching the benefits of an investigational Ebola vaccine in Guinea, Kanki says.
“Since Monkeypox spreads by close contact and we have an effective vaccine, vaccinating high-risk individuals and their contacts may be a good strategy to limit transmission,” she says, adding that privacy is an important ethical principle that comes into play, as people with monkeypox would need to disclose their close contacts so that they could benefit from ring vaccination.
Rapid identification of cases and contacts—along with their cooperation—is essential for ring vaccination to be effective. Although mass vaccination also may work, the risk of infection to most of the population remains low while supply of the JYNNEOS vaccine is limited, says Stanley Deresinski, a clinical professor of medicine in the Infectious Disease Clinic at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Other strategies for preventing transmission
Ideally, the vaccine should be administered within four days of an exposure, but it’s recommended for up to 14 days. The WHO also advocates more widespread vaccination campaigns in the population segment with the most cases so far: men who engage in sex with other men.
The virus appears to be spreading in sexual networks, which differs from what was seen in previously reported outbreaks of monkeypox (outside of Africa), where risk was associated with travel to central or west Africa or various types of contact with individuals or animals from those locales. There is no evidence of transmission by food, but contaminated articles in the environment such as bedding are potential sources of the virus, Deresinski says.
Severe cases of monkeypox can occur, but “transmission of the virus requires close contact,” he says. “There is no evidence of aerosol transmission, as occurs with SARS-CoV-2, although it must be remembered that the smallpox virus, a close relative of monkeypox, was transmitted by aerosol.”
Deresinski points to the fact that in 2003, monkeypox was introduced into the U.S. through imports from Ghana of infected small mammals, such as Gambian giant rats, as pets. They infected prairie dogs, which also were sold as pets and, ultimately, this resulted in 37 confirmed transmissions to humans and 10 probable cases. A CDC investigation identified no cases of human-to-human transmission. Then, in 2021, a traveler flew from Nigeria to Dallas through Atlanta, developing skin lesions several days after arrival. Another CDC investigation yielded 223 contacts, although 85 percent were deemed to be at only minimal risk and the remainder at intermediate risk. No new cases were identified.
How much should we be worried
But how serious of a threat is monkeypox this time around? “Right now, the risk to the general public is very low,” says Scott Roberts, an assistant professor and associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine. “Monkeypox is spread through direct contact with infected skin lesions or through close contact for a prolonged period of time with an infected person. It is much less transmissible than COVID-19.”
The monkeypox incubation period—the time from infection until the onset of symptoms—is typically seven to 14 days but can range from five to 21 days, compared with only three days for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. With such a long incubation, there is a larger window to conduct contact tracing and vaccinate people before symptoms appear, which can prevent infection or lessen the severity.
But symptoms may present atypically or recognition may be delayed. “Ring vaccination works best with 100 percent adherence, and in the absence of a mandate, this is not achievable,” Roberts says.
At the outset of infection, symptoms include fever, chills, and fatigue. Several days later, a rash becomes noticeable, usually beginning on the face and spreading to other parts of the body, he says. The rash starts as flat lesions that raise and develop fluid, similar to manifestations of chickenpox. Once the rash scabs and falls off, a person is no longer contagious.
“It's an uncomfortable infection,” says Van Voorhis, the University of Washington School of Medicine professor. There may be swollen lymph nodes. Sores and rash are often limited to the genitals and areas around the mouth or rectum, suggesting intimate contact as the source of spread.
Symptoms of monkeypox usually last from two to four weeks. The WHO estimated that fatalities range from 3 to 6 percent. Although it’s believed to infect various animal species, including rodents and monkeys in west and central Africa, “the animal reservoir for the virus is unknown,” says Kanki, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor.
Too often, viruses originate in parts of the world that are too poor to grapple with them and may lack the resources to invest in vaccines and treatments. “This disease is endemic in central and west Africa, and it has basically been ignored until it jumped to the north and infected Europeans, Americans, and Canadians,” Van Voorhis says. “We have to do a better job in health care and prevention all over the world. This is the kind of thing that comes back to bite us.”