Lead Review (Off Target)

• Book: Off Target
• Location: England
• Author: Eve Smith

Review Author: tripfiction

In a seemingly quite possible near future, we have moved on from genetically engineering crops to manipulating the in utero genes of unborn babies. It sort of started with advanced IVF procedures then moved on to eliminating the possibilities of inherited disease and then to beginning to formulate designer babies. Many of these procedures were banned in the UK for ethical and moral reasons, but many still travelled abroad to have procedures performed in less scrupulous parts of the world. Very little, if any, attention was paid to the possible long term effects of what was happening. What might the unintended consequences be of these life-changing procedures? What if a time bomb was building up as a generation of genetically engineered babies was reaching puberty?

The sorry of these developments is largely told through the eyes of Susan (who for reasons I won’t explore here for fear of a spoiler…) had some genetic engineering performed on her unborn daughter, Zurel. We follow Zurel’s life through from the womb to her experiences as a young teenager. Initially all went extremely well, until it started going very wrong… Zurel was in the same position as hundreds of thousands of her peers around the world. As word of the problems spread, the current pro-life and pro-abortion debate felt very much like a preliminary show before the main event kicked in. There was much violence on the streets.

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Off Target is certainly a thought provoking book. It describes events which, with not that much imagination, could easily be seen to be about to happen over the next years. The technology will almost certainly develop to make it possible. The book poses the question of how the technology will be controlled. This, I guess – and not just in the area of genetic engineering – is becoming a burning question. How do we control, for human good, what we are inventing? AI, as an example, has enormous benefits in the area of medical diagnosis but it also has the power to transform our lives in ways we may not find beneficial.

A very interesting book.

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