Aggregated News
A recent New York Times article (Feb. 25) on a new fertility procedure that involves using the genetic material of three people to create a baby does a very good job of outlining the major ethical challenges posed by the technique.
The procedure is intended to produce children free of certain genetic defects, by replacing the mitochondria of the egg with the mitochondria of a donor who is free of the genetic defect. It could potentially be a godsend to families who risk passing certain catastrophic genetic defects on to their children. But, as The Times article rightly points out, it raises the ethical questions of whether we should be designing our children to be free of whatever we consider to be defects.
"Designer babies," as they are often called, represent both the best and worst of our understanding of parenthood. Several techniques already allow us to prevent passing genetic defects on to the next generation.
For years, fertility clinics have been able to screen embryos for genetic defects before implanting them; in some cases, halting or slowing the prevalence...
The procedure is intended to produce children free of certain genetic defects, by replacing the mitochondria of the egg with the mitochondria of a donor who is free of the genetic defect. It could potentially be a godsend to families who risk passing certain catastrophic genetic defects on to their children. But, as The Times article rightly points out, it raises the ethical questions of whether we should be designing our children to be free of whatever we consider to be defects.
"Designer babies," as they are often called, represent both the best and worst of our understanding of parenthood. Several techniques already allow us to prevent passing genetic defects on to the next generation.
For years, fertility clinics have been able to screen embryos for genetic defects before implanting them; in some cases, halting or slowing the prevalence...