Dominic Cummings called for ‘designer babies’ on NHS

Experts say Johnson’s aide misunderstood ‘key concepts’

gettyimages-1188198235.jpg
(Image credit: (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images))

Boris Johnson’s controversial aide Dominic Cummings once suggested that the NHS should cover the cost of selecting babies to have higher IQs.

In a blog post on “designer babies”, Cummings said he believed rich couples would inevitably select embryos with “the highest prediction for IQ”. He also proposed that “a national health system should fund everybody to do this” to avoid an unfair advantage for rich would-be parents.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up