Doctor's Plan for Custom-Made Babies Condemned

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Bioethicists and other critics are condemning an American doctor's offer to let parents pick the color of their children's eyes and hair. Dr. Jeff Steinberg says the service will be available at the New York City and Los Angeles offices of his Fertility Institutes within six months.

Doctors will examine the genetic character of embryos created in a lab and implant the ones that have the best chance of giving parents a baby with the desired traits, the New York Daily News reported.

The announcement triggered widespread criticism.

"We're crossing the line into eugenics, the theory of trying to give people enhanced characteristics -- genetic engineering to make sort of the superman or superwomen," Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, director of ethics at New York Medical College and St. Vincent's Hospital, told the Daily News.

Some say Steinberg doesn't have the ability to give parents what they want.

"He's the only one offering this because you can't yet do it. Nobody can do this right now," said Sean Tipton of the American Society for Reproductive Technology.