OPINION: Mandatory Genetic Testing isn't Eugenics, it's Smart Science

By Jacob M Appel , Bioethicist and Author - March 04, 2009

Comments(1) | (0)
Dna-testing
When physicians at University College in London last month announced the birth of what they described as the world's first "breast-cancer gene-free baby," a designer infant pre-screened for the BRCA1 cancer gene, critics focused public debate on the question of whether or not such screening should be permitted. Yet as genetic screening becomes increasingly routine, it is the opposite question that will likely raise far more ethical challenges: If pre-implantation genetic diagnosis during in ... Read the Full Article
Read More on: parenting, new moms, bioethics
This content is inappropriate

Please select the category that most closely reflects your concern about this content, so that we can review it and determine whether it violates Civility 101 or isn't appropriate for some other reason.
Abusing this feature is also a violation of Civility 101.

Explanation:


You are seeing 1 Comment. See all 3 Comments on this Article.
Regarding Article
OPINION: Mandatory Genetic Testing isn't Eugenics, it's Smart Science
  • VulcanTourist
    Baby Out With the Bathwater?

    I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that gene BRCA1 might have more than one effect or expression, and that the other effect(s) might actually be beneficial, perhaps even strikingly so?

    While I'm not terrified by the notion of eugenics as are so many people, what does terrify me is the likelihood that we're implementing various forms of it without full knowledge of the complexities and the consequences. Humans have an intrinsic impulse to simplify, and all too often that need to simplify runs amok.

    If we rush into genetic manipulation merely because we CAN before we're truly ABLE, the consequences could be dire but so subtle that it's too late when we realize our error.

    - VulcanTouristUS March 4, 2009 5:52PM

    Reply to this Recommend (0) Icon flag

    Thank You for your Comment

    We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.