Designer Babies: Science and Morality in the Magazine New Scientist

At New Scientist, Dan Jones writes that moral heuristics may be leading us astray in our moral judgments.

Heuristics can be thought of as tools in our mental toolbox that have evolved over millennia to help us make fast decisions in complex situations or where information may be limited, such as when choosing between various options or making everyday predictions. A particularly pervasive example in the moral domain is the injunction "Do not play God" or, in more secular terms, "Do not tamper with nature".

The problem with using moral heuristics to judge science is even starker in some popular perceptions of reproductive technologies. "Designer" babies are a case in point. IVF combined with genetic testing makes it possible to screen the cells of an embryo for specific gene variants before it is implanted into the womb. This pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is primarily used to filter out embryos with genes for heritable diseases, but in future it could be used to choose babies with desired traits, such as tallness or a particular eye colour, and perhaps even physical prowess, intelligence and aspects of personality.

The article then cites Lewis Wolpert, a developmental biologist:

Wolpert believes that knowledge, not a moral heuristic, is the best guide to thinking about the desirability of scientific or technological progress. So while he doesn't oppose "designer" babies on ethical grounds, he doesn't think there should be a genetic free-for-all either... "You might think you know what you're doing when you put in new genes, but it's very tricky, and you're likely to produce abnormalities," he says. "I think it's a safety issue, not an ethical issue."

Is it just a safety issue? If there is an ethical quandary here what is it? What do you think the right thing to do is?