Re: News: Breast cancer gene-free baby due.

On Dec 21, 5:17 pm, Vend <ven...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 21 Dic, 16:27, Sapient Fridge <use_reply_addr...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



In message
<cb94fe83-3e74-465b-a875-a84d31fa0...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Ron
O <rokim...@xxxxxxx> writes

On Dec 21, 6:55 am, Ye Old One <use...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:14:16 -0800 (PST), Vend <ven...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
enriched this group when s/he wrote:

On 21 Dic, 02:53, Ye Old One <use...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
"What next? It is going further along the line which ultimately ends
in designer babies."

I don't think this technology leads towards designer babies,

Actually, I don't either. One of the doctors involved gave an
interview on Radio 4 the other day and he said it was not designer
babies as all they could do was weed out genetic problems.

since the
expected number of embryo to be discarded increases exponentially with
the number of traits (on independently inheritable chromosome regions)
selected.

I suppose a better efficiency could be obtained by operating selection
on the gametes, the sperm cells in particular which are available in
large amounts, but that would require non-destructive DNA testing
(maybe some form of DNA marking like that used in cancer terapies?)..

--
Bob.

What is the definition of genetic problems?

There have already been cases where dwarf parents have wanted to use
fetal genetic testing to determine if they wanted to abort the fetus.
The fetuses that they wanted to abort were the "normal" non dwarf.
They did not want normal children because they were too hard to
handle.

Not the only example.  Deaf parents have tried to choose to have deaf
children:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3087367.ece

Child abuse.

Definitely a bit of a moral minefield, and one that will only get more
complex as time goes on.

I don't see anything particularly complicated about the issue.
It's mutilation and it's already immoral and most likely illegal.

--
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Only if you make quite a couple of problematic assumptions (i.e., it
is complicated, once you think about it): You assume that being deaf
is better than not being deaf - but on what basis? Deaf people might
claim that it is more an issue of a trade-of f- they lack some skills,
but are compensated by having/developing other skills. That they are
disadvantaged is simply a result of social attitudes that arbitrarily
value one skill over the other, or design an environment where
possession of one rather than the other is advantageous. Under the
"social definition of disability" that increasingly builds the
foundation of disability discrimination law, its not people who are
disabled, its the environment that disables them.

If you accept this view (don't necessarily say I do, only that you
need some reasons to do it) things get more complicated....

Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum in their "capabilities approach" give
in my opinion the most nuanced discussion so far, see e.g.(with
particular relevance maybe fo rthis board) Nussbaum's Frontiers of
Justice
Disability, Nationality, Species Membership

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: News: Breast cancer gene-free baby due.
    ... I don't think this technology leads towards designer babies, ... Deaf parents have tried to choose to have deaf ... but are compensated by having/developing other skills. ... foundation of disability discrimination law, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: Breast cancer gene-free baby due.
    ... enriched this group when s/he wrote: ... I don't think this technology leads towards designer babies, ... The U.S. Government has to have one, because they pay disability ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: Breast cancer gene-free baby due.
    ... enriched this group when s/he wrote: ... I don't think this technology leads towards designer babies, ... The U.S. Government has to have one, because they pay disability payments to qualified individuals under Social Security and other programs. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: Breast cancer gene-free baby due.
    ... interview on Radio 4 the other day and he said it was not designer ... but are compensated by having/developing other skills. ... Build environment, of course, - I'm not IDler, when I use the word ... foundation of disability discrimination law, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Designer Needs to Learn More. Where?
    ... I am a part time contract PCB designer. ... as balanced lines and controlled impedance, ... skills that I have fallen behind on. ... with the idea of multiple, split planes, cost me opportunities, because ...
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