GATTACA NOW!
Genetic Engineer takes a leap forward today with the announcement that a Spanish couple has genetically engineered one of their babies to be free of a genetic disorder and as a donor to their first child that suffers from Beta Thalassaemia major, a disease that affects the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen and drastically reduces the life expectancy of the afflicted child.
I think it’s awesome that our medical technology has reached the stage where we can pre-screen our children for life altering afflictions, and even happier to see that there are treatments available that permit us to cure those affected with terminal illnesses… but I wonder about the morality of having one child to save another.
I’m not saying the couple shouldn’t have another child, and if they’re able to use pre-screening (which is illegal in Italy, the author of the article threw out that random factoid for no apparent reason other for dramatic reasons) to prevent the second child from being afflicted with the same disease and are lucky enough for that match to be a compatible donor with their first child, that’s great! But I wonder about the morality of fertilizing dozens, hundreds or possibly even thousands of eggs, maturing them to the point where you can perform the screening and then discarding all those not selected.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-abortion… but I’m not in favor of reducing the miracle of conception and life to something that is treated like a casino… where you fertilize thousands of eggs and play the odds that one of them will be what you want.
And of course, there is the concern that by screening your embryos, you’re only a step away from a world where we select for physical, intellectual or emotional attributes instead of just eliminating health issues.
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Ok ok… I admit it: It’s not really “genetically engineering” to genetically screen embryos for desired traits… but it’s a step away.