Although Watson's belief that Africans have lower IQs on average was inflammatory in itself, CSHL had another reason for distancing itself from Watson. The research institute was once the centre of the American eugenics movement. Its shameful association with scientific racism and compulsory sterilisation ended in 1940 and it has been trying to distance itself from its past ever since. In a press release, it stressed that it did not "engage in any research that could even form the basis of the statements attributed to Dr. Watson."

From 1910 to 1939 CSHL housed the Eugenics Record Office, which catalogued medical histories of families, carefully noting traits such as allergies, feeble-mindedness, civic leadership and immoral behaviour. At the time, the aim was to foster breeding of healthy citizens, as James Watson himself explains in short video clips on an educational website set up by CSHL.

The first CSHL director, Charles Davenport, was convinced that Mendel's laws could be applied to humans. The managing director, Harry Laughlin, was responsible for drafting a "model law" for compulsory sterilisation for the insane, criminals, epileptics, alcoholics, blind persons, deaf persons, deformed persons, and indigent persons. This was taken up by a number of American states and even used as a model for eugenics legislation in Nazi Germany.

Although Watson is notorious for promoting eugenics -- rebadged as genetic engineering -- the American scientific community has only reacted to his negative comments on blacks. "He has failed us in the worst possible way. It is a sad and revolting way to end a remarkable career," said Henry Kelly, president of the Federation of American Scientists.

One of the key questions in economic history is why the Industrial Revolution took place in England. Clark bases his answers on his research into the reproductive success of wealthy Englishmen. After 1250, rich commoners had more surviving children than the rest, and their children, too, had higher-than-average reproductive success. This meant that the distinctive values which had made them prosperous percolated throughout society, eventually leading to Britain's economic take-off in the late 18th century.

The case has been working its way through the courts. A year ago, a court in Milan refused to authorise removal of nutrition and hydration. But earlier this month, Italy's highest appeals court ordered a retrial. The Cassation Court declared that a person's right to decide what medical treatment they receive should be respected even if doing so would cause their death.

Dr Marc Fritz, of the ASRM's practice committee, says: "Egg-freezing is still an experimental procedure. It should not be marketed for the purposes of defying the consequences of reproductive ageing in healthy women. One concern is that having frozen their eggs women may unfortunately think they have ensured their future fertility. Existing medical evidence simply does not justify that. Women contemplating the use of egg-freezing technologies need to receive extensive counselling to help them make a fully informed decision."

However British stem cell experts have called for a reality check. The doyen of British IVF, Lord Robert Winston, said the company was preying on parents' fears. "It's a clear example of exploitation of the worries of couples about the fate of their children. There is no scientific evidence to sustain the notion that this will be a useful procedure. I would be horrified if anyone tried to do this in Britain."

All of these defects could be corrected with minor surgery. Club feet is one of the commonest birth defects, but it can be corrected without surgery, with splints, plaster casts and boots. However, some parents and doctors still believe that it is a serious birth defect.

The UK's Abortion Act allows termination at any stage of pregnancy if two doctors agree that there is a "substantial risk" of the child being "serious handicapped". What constitutes "substantial risk" is left to the doctors' discretion, and some fear the definition of "handicap" is widening as scanning technology develops.