Consider Ethical Questions of 'Designer Babies'
By Elizabeth M. Meade,
The Morning Call
| 03. 10. 2014
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...
Related Articles
By Eric Schmidt, TIME | 04.16.2024
Imagine a world where everything from plastics to concrete is produced from biomass. Personalized cell and gene therapies prevent pandemics and treat previously incurable genetic diseases. Meat is lab-grown; enhanced nutrient grains are climate-resistant. This is what the future could...
By Harold Brubaker, The Philadelphia Inquirer | 04.04.2024
Acompany started by University of Pennsylvania scientist Jim Wilson has received FDA approval to test a form of gene editing in infants for the first time in the United States, the company said Thursday.
The Plymouth Meeting company, iECURE, is...
By Carey Gillan, UnSpun | 03.18.2024
A Mexican standoff with the United States turned into a Mexican smack-down this month with the release of Mexico’s formal rebuttal to US efforts to overturn limits Mexico has ordered on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn and the...
By Billy Perrigo, TIME | 03.11.2024
The U.S. government must move “quickly and decisively” to avert substantial national security risks stemming from artificial intelligence (AI) which could, in the worst case, cause an “extinction-level threat to the human species,” says a report commissioned by the U.S...