no designer babies after all

that same mark who was so superstitious at the cardiff game has written another interesting article, this time about pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD. you may read the whole thing here. btw, i told him that i liked to share some of his articles, and asked if it was ok with him. at first he thought i had quoted him in a book, and was rather happy. once i had disabused him of that notion, however, he was still kind enough to say it was ok by him if i blogged his writing.

the catalyst for the article is a woman with generations of breast cancer in her family, whose embryo will be screened for the gene that causes it. the gist of what mark is saying is that:
a. the fear is that the more reasons that become accepted for screening for certain genes, the closer we will get to a form of eugenics (the slippery slope theory).
b. there is, however, no reason to fear this since "its dystopian potential is firmly limited by science. It is certainly a powerful technology that has helped hundreds of families to have a healthy child. But it is entirely unsuitable for mass production of babies-to-order."
c. since it can only be done via ivf, " Success rates are poor, and it involves invasive and gruelling gynaecological procedures. There are also side-effects for the prospective mother".
d. not to mention the fact that " It is all very well ordering a designer baby with the brains of Stephen Hawking and the looks of Kate Moss. If mum and dad are thick and ugly, it isn’t going to happen."
e. while nobody knows to what future scientific developments may lead, "PGD is a great tool for preventing genetic diseases that cascade down the generations, blighting whole families with misery and suffering. For the eugenic design of superhumans, it is essentially useless."

so there you have it. no need to invoke a brave new world, or mengele's experiments. no ethical crisis. in fact, this procedure may help prevent diseases such as cystic fibrosis and, as our catalyst hopes, end the chain of death from breast cancer that haunts her family.