Designer Baby

By Alice Park

Barely two months old, little Adam Nash has already made history. The Colorado infant is the first test-tube baby from an embryo screened and selected for implantation from among several competing embryos in order to provide matching tissue for an ailing older sibling.

Without dramatic intervention, Molly Nash, 6, who suffers from a blood disorder that leads to dangerously low blood-cell counts and constant fatigue, could have died within a year. Her only hope was a bone-marrow transplant, preferably from a genetically matched sibling.

Last year Molly's parents underwent in- vitro fertilization to try to create just such a donor; two weeks ago, doctors at Fairview-University Hospital in Minneapolis, Minn., successfully transferred tissue from Adam's discarded umbilical cord into Molly's body.

The Nashes' decision has prompted inevitable questions about the ethical implications of parents' choosing their offspring's features as if they were options on a minivan. But even as the issue is debated, the practice is catching on. Already, 300 IVF babies in the U.S. have been born after the same genetic-screening procedure the Nashes used, though in those cases the goal was simply to ensure that the embryos were not carrying serious genetic defects.

By making their decision to borrow a bit of Adam's tissue, the Nashes realize that they are exposing themselves to scrutiny--and to criticism. "We're not trying to force our decision on everyone, but we wanted others to know that genetic testing is available," says Lisa Nash, the children's mother. Welcome to the Brave New World, Molly and Adam.

--By Alice Park