The Medical Ethics of creating a true Love Potion...

"Perhaps genetic tests for the suitability of potential partners will one day become available, the results of which could accompany, and even override, our gut instincts in selecting the perfect partner. Either way, recent advances … mean it won't be long before an unscrupulous suitor could slip a pharmaceutical love potion in our drink."

Guardian News reported yesterday on a recent scientific study breakthrough, that scientists have identified two hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, which appear crucial in forming a close bond with another person. They've done tests on sheep which found that an injection of oxytocin was enough to make a ewe form an immediate bond with lambs that were not her own.

"Men with a gene that makes them less responsive to vasopressin are less likely to marry their partners and more likely to have a marital crisis if they do, Young explains. The hormones are released in the brain during childbirth or sexual stimulation."

"The view of love as an emergent property of a cocktail of ancient [brain chemicals] raises important issues for society. For one thing, drugs that manipulate brain systems at whim to enhance or diminish our love for another may not be far away."

What a scary thought that someday who and how we love could entirely be out of our control? I think Andrew Niccol got it right the first time, we're just one step closer to his envisioned world of Gattaca.

Love Potions Article @ Guardian News