ehind the scenes at Preventive, executives have privately discussed identifying a couple with a genetic disorder who might agree to take part in an overseas experiment — beyond the reach of U.S. regulators and within countries that allow embryo editing — to create a genetically engineered child, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A Silicon Valley startup is drawing international scrutiny after reports that it wants to create the first genetically edited human child.

Preventive, set up as a public benefit corporation, spent much of the past year quietly investigating how to engineer embryos to eliminate hereditary disease, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Behind the scenes, executives have privately discussed identifying a couple with a genetic disorder who might agree to take part in an overseas experiment — beyond the reach of U.S. regulators and within countries that allow embryo editing.