Repronews #73: NHS to genotype every newborn in England

Rise of “Confugenics” | Nationwide child subsidy in China | DNA of almost 5000-year old Egyptian revealed

Welcome to the latest issue of Repronews! Highlights from this week’s edition:

• Repro/genetics

  • NHS England to offer genotyping of every newborn baby to predict disease, “revolutionize” preventive healthcare, and build world-leading biobank.

  • “Confugenics”: Will the combination of Confucian hypercompetitiveness and costly genetic enhancement technologies further crash East-Asian fertility?

• Population Policies & Trends

  • China to roll out nationwide child subsidy of $500 a year, in addition to local government efforts.

• Further Learning

  • Almost 5000-year-old Egyptian genotyped, showed significant Mesopotamian ancestry, suggesting regional immigration patterns.

Repro/genetics

“NHS plans to DNA test all babies to assess disease risk” (BBC)

• England’s National Health Service (NHS) plans to map the DNA of every newborn baby in the country to assess their risk of hundreds of diseases.

• The objective was set in the NHS’s plan fo the next 10 years.

• Genotyping newborns is part of a wider government drive towards predicting and preventing illness, including £650 million invested in DNA research for all patients by 2030.

• Health Secretary Wes Streeting said genotyping will enable the NHS to “leapfrog disease, so we’re in front of it rather than reacting to it.”

• The Department for Health and Social Care said that genomics and AI would be used to “revolutionize prevention,” accelerate diagnoses, and provide an “early warning signal for disease.”

• The Health Secretary said: “With the power of this new technology, patients will be able to receive personalized healthcare to prevent ill-health before symptoms begin, reducing the pressure on NHS services, and helping people live longer, healthier lives.”

• Screening newborns for rare diseases will involve sequencing their complete DNA using blood samples from their umbilical cord.

• In October, an NHS study analyzing the genetic code of up to 100,000 babies was announced, looking only for gene disorders that develop in early childhood and for which there are effective treatments. There are around 7,000 single-gene disorders.

• Newborns are currently offered a heelprick blood test that checks for nine serious conditions, including cystic fibrosis.

• Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist at the Francis Crick Institute, said genotyping can enable predictions for developing particular diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, liver diseases and some kidney problems.

• Lovell-Badge warned the government would need to hire qualified professionals who could interpret genetic data for patients. “You need people to have conversations with individuals who might be affected by genetic disease,” he said, raising concerns about the lack of genetic counsellors.

• The new initiative will also support efforts by Genomics England to build one of the world’s largest research databases, with the goal of containing over 500,000 genomes by 2030.

“Confugenics: East Asian culture favors uptake of human cognitive enhancement and IVF genetic technologies amid demographic challenges” (MBE)

• Alexis Heng Boon Chin and colleagues write on the rise of “Confugenics,” defined as the intersection of reproductive technologies for genetic enhancement and values of Confucian societies.

• The authors explore the interaction of emerging reprogenetic technologies and East-Asian societies’ obsession with “child perfectionism” and “tiger parenting,” whereby whereby parents push their children into the competitive educational system at an early age, often paying high fees for private tuition. They argue that child perfectionism and tiger parenting discourage many families from having more children.

• The authors believe Confucian competitiveness may motivate adoption of costly reprogenetic enhancement technologies, further reducing birth rates: “The development of cognitive-enhancing brain chips, and reprogenetic technology platforms for consumer eugenics, such as germline genome editing and polygenic embryo screening, may further increase financial strain on parents, potentially accelerating demographic decline.”

More on repro/genetics:

• “New data: 1 in 31 British children now born via IVF” (PET)

• “The newly enacted Italian surrogacy law: Effects on reproductive tourism” (JARG)

• “‘Forever fertile’: Ovarian tissue cryopreservation for an extended reproductive lifespan” (JARG)

Population Policies & Trends

“China plans nationwide subsidies to boost birth rate, growth” (Straights Times)

• The Chinese government is set to provide 3,600 yuan (about $500) a year for each child born on or after 1 January 2025 until the age of 3, under a nationwide initiative.

• China registered population decline for three straight years from 2022 to 2024.

• 9.54 million Chinese babies were born in 2024, only half of the 18.8 million registered in 2016, when China lifted the One-Child Policy.

• China lost its title as the most populous nation to India in 2023. The population may drop from 1.41 billion today to 1.3 billion by 2050 and below 800 million by 2100, according to UN forecasts.

• The country has seen a sharp drop in the marriage rate, which has hit its lowest level in almost half a century.

• Many local governments have rolled out measures such as cash incentives and housing subsidies, to alleviate families’ financial burden.

• Local subsidies are sometimes quite generous. Hohhot, the regional capital of Inner Mongolia, made headlines in March for its subsidies of 50,000 yuan (almost $7000) to couples who have a second child and 100,000 yuan (almost $14,000) for a third child or more.

Genetic Studies

• “Large genetic map of Indians flags hidden disease risks” (The Hindu)

Further Learning

“Whole-genome ancestry of an Old Kingdom Egyptian” (Nature)

• Researchers have gene sequenced an adult male Egyptian, radiocarbon dated to 2855–2570 BCE. He lived a few centuries after Egyptian unification, bridging the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods.

• The body was interred in a ceramic pot within a rock-cut tomb, potentially contributing to DNA preservation.

• The genome mainly corresponds to North African Neolithic ancestry, but around 20% of his genetic ancestry is more similar to eastern Fertile Crescent genomes, including Mesopotamia and surrounding regions.

• The results indicate that contacts between Egypt and the eastern Fertile Crescent were not limited to objects, domesticated animals, plants, and writing systems, but also included human migration.

• More genomes are needed to fully understand the genomic diversity of early Egyptians, especially as the genotyped man was an elite male not necessarily representative of the broader population.

More on evolution, genetics, and biotech:

• “No bones, no scales, no problem: The first lab-grown salmon sold in the U.S.” (Washington Post)

• “Fertile mice created from two fathers, via epigenome editing” (PET)

• “A new project aims to synthesize a human chromosome” (The Economist)

Disclaimer: We cannot fact-check the linked-to stories and studies, nor do the views expressed necessarily reflect our own.