Are 3-parent babies products of eugenics or the desire to save lives? – Genetic Literacy Project

These days, using the tiniest surgical and biological scissors, we can snip away bad genes and insert good ones.thanks

The most astonishing gene therapy news this year has been the crafting of three-parent babies. The in-vitro fertilization practice, known as mitochondrial replacement therapy, is meant to help women who carry genes for mitochondrial diseases have babies without passing the disorders onto their children.

And then there is the time-worn bugaboo of eugenics. Geneticists and ethicists worry that genetic replacement therapies might be used by the wealthy to reduce diversity (selecting for, say, tall, athletic, blond babies) and enhance things like intelligence and physical prowess, producing a generation of look-a-like transhumans who are far more powerful than people who lack the means and money to do the same.

[However,]Im all for gene therapywithin proper scientific and ethical constraintsEvery day, the practice of medicine keeps people alive who would otherwise die. If we only apply the logic of survival of the fittest to genetic therapy, we might wind up culling valuable lives that human ingenuity could save.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Three-parent babies should make us examine our instinct for offspring who share our genes

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Are 3-parent babies products of eugenics or the desire to save lives? - Genetic Literacy Project