What do you think?...

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Offline Christine Mary

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What do you think?...
« on: January 22, 2007, 02:09:19 PM »
Personally, I don't agree with this at all.... BUT is it really any different than concieving a child (like my husband and I did) KNOWING there is a good chance the baby having a genetic disease???

I find this discussion very interesting.



Idea of 'designer' babies with defective genes stirs ethics questions
POSTED: 8:03 p.m. EST, January 19, 2007
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CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The power to create "perfect" designer babies looms over the world of prenatal testing.

But what if doctors started doing the opposite?

Creating made-to-order babies with genetic defects would seem to be an ethical minefield, but to some parents with disabilities -- say, deafness or dwarfism -- it just means making babies like them.

And a recent survey of U.S. clinics that offer embryo screening suggests it's already happening.

Three percent, or four clinics surveyed, said they have provided the costly, complicated procedure to help families create children with a disability.

Some doctors have denounced the practice. Others question whether it's true. Blogs are abuzz with the news, with armchair critics saying the phenomenon, if real, is taking the concept of designer babies way too far.

"Old fear: designer babies. New fear: deformer babies," the online magazine Slate wrote, calling it "the deliberate crippling of children."

But the survey also has led to a debate about the definition of "normal" and inspires a glimpse into deaf and dwarf cultures where many people do not consider themselves disabled.

'Playing God'
Cara Reynolds of Collingswood, New Jersey, who considered embryo screening but now plans to adopt a dwarf baby, is outraged by the criticism.

"You cannot tell me that I cannot have a child who's going to look like me," Reynolds said. "It's just unbelievably presumptuous and they're playing God."

Embryo screening, formally called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, is done with in vitro fertilization, when eggs and sperm are mixed in a lab dish and then implanted into the womb. In PGD, before implantation, a cell from a days-old embryo is removed to allow doctors to examine it for genetic defects.

The entire procedure can cost more than $15,000 per try.

The survey asked 415 clinics to participate, 190 responded and 137 said they have provided embryo screening. The most common reason was to detect and discard embryos with abnormalities involving a missing or extra chromosome, which can result in miscarriage or severe and usually fatal birth defects.

The survey is being published in an upcoming print edition of the medical journal Fertility and Sterility. It appeared in the online edition in September. Clinics were asked many questions about PGD, including whether they'd provided it to families "seeking to select an embryo for the presence of a disability."

"We asked the question because this is an issue that has been raised primarily by bioethicists as something that could happen," said Susannah Baruch of Johns Hopkins University's Genetics and Public Policy Center.

"It's sparking a lot of conversations," she said. "These are difficult issues for everybody."

While it's technologically possible, whether any deaf or dwarf babies have been born as a result of PGD is uncertain. The survey didn't ask. Participating clinics were promised anonymity, and seven major PGD programs contacted by The Associated Press all said they had never been asked to use the procedure for that purpose.

PGD pioneer Dr. Mark Hughes, who runs a Detroit laboratory that does the screening for many fertility programs nationwide, said he hadn't heard of the technology being used to select an abnormal embryo until the survey.

"It's total nonsense," Hughes said. "It couldn't possibly be 3 percent of the clinics" doing PGD for this purpose "because we work with them all."

He said he wouldn't do the procedure if asked.

"To create a child with a disability because a parent wanted such a thing ... where would you draw the line?" Hughes wondered.

University of Minnesota bioethicist Jeffrey Kahn has a provocative response.

"It's an ethically challenging question and certainly it will trouble people, but I think there are good, thoughtful reasons why people who are deaf or ... dwarves could say, 'I want a child like me,"' Kahn said

Lauryn's Mom

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Offline Andy Battaglia

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Re: What do you think?...
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2007, 03:42:49 AM »
Life is hard enough without parents going out of their way to intentionally give their children problems. Parents do enough to mess up their kids without intentionally sabotaging their physical or mental health. To me it's an incredibly selfish point of view voiced by people who want kids just like themselves. They are not considering the problems that will be posed to their child. I am not happy to have passed on a bad thyroid and asthma problems and to think people want to intentionally pass on problems is simply ridiculous. Hopefully very few people will choose such a course and even fewer clinics will cooperate with these requests.

I think there is a big difference between passing on genes you have and can't control whether or not you pass on, and intentionally having an embryo genetically altered to give it a problem. I know thyroid problems run (gallop) in my family, but I don't intentionally inflict it on my children. They may or may not have it (my oldest does) but I certainly wouldn't intentionally inflict it on children anymore than anyone intentionally passed on thal genes to their kids. I don't think anyone has a right to tell you not to have kids and you always hope for the best but we don't control what happens. Most people have something in their families that they would prefer doesn't get passed on, but we take our chances because we have no choice if we are going to have children. But we do have the choice to not mess them up intentionally.
Andy

All we are saying is give thals a chance.

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Offline §ãJ¡Ð ساجد

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Re: What do you think?...
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2007, 06:04:37 AM »
Man the world is full of crazy people :crazy

As if there weren't enough problems already for us to cure diseases! We should use our resources to cure all diseases rather than waste them on getting diseases!!

Take care, Peace!
اَسّلامُ علیکم Peace be Upon you
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Offline vic

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Re: What do you think?...
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2007, 10:24:07 AM »
my goodness what are people thinking  ??? 
i'd go out of my way to make sure that my child doesn't have traits, diseases, abnormalities, etc so they can have the world of opportunities at their feet rather than always have try that little bit harder to 'fit in'

anyway my son does not have to have thal or whatever else i have in order for him to be like me.  he likes my taste in music, he is a little too sensitive at times, he is a neat freak, and so on.

ive got a hairdresser appointment tomorrow, should i book in christian so he too can look like a mini me.

vic :wink

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Offline Manal

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Re: What do you think?...
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2007, 02:16:57 PM »
This is insane. Can't believe that those people exist. Actually talking about them is a waste of time. Guess that parents who want this, suffer from psychological problems as this is against human instinct.
Thanks Christine for sharing this with us

Manal

 

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