So there’s a major brouhaha over a fertility clinic in which a doctor is claiming that he can help would-be parents determine, not only gender, but eye color, hair color, and skin color.
My initial reaction was not being sure how to react to the prospect at all. Naturally it raises specters of a race of supermen, and not the cool, faster-than-a-speeding bullet kind. So that was enough to engender a certain amount of squeamishness. And there’s the further gut reaction that there are simply some things that people should not be able to control. Things that mankind was not meant to experiment with, as someone who was raised on 1950s B science fiction films can readily attest.
However…however…
While there is something to be said for dangerous precedents over genetic manipulation of such attributes…there’s also something to be said for dangerous precedents over refusing to allow it.
First: If you’re telling a woman what she can and cannot do in terms of “designing” her fetus, aren’t you laying groundwork for saying that she doesn’t have the right to decide what to do with her body? The consequences of which can range from governments that tell you you cannot have an abortion even though you feel you have too many kids, to governments that tell you you must have an abortion because you have too many kids.
Second: Closing the door on the genetic manipulation of surface characteristics can also threaten to close the door on research into—for instance—detecting and curing in utero such diseases as spina bifida, or cystic fibrosis, or cerebral palsey. Sure, it might seem common sense to say, “Well, nobody would oppose curing disease in the womb.” The answer to which is: Sure they would. There are plenty of people who would assert that you play the hand that God deals you, and altering a child-to-be for any reason is a sin.
Ultimately, what we’re discussing here in terms of practical application is a tiny, tiny minority of babies born. The existence of the technology is not going to result in the creation of Khan and the advent of the Eugenics war anytime soon.
Bottom line: I have a feeling that no matter which side one comes down on, it’s a mistake. So if there’s going to be a mistake made, my tendency would be to err on the side of scientific research and personal freedoms.
Thoughts?
• 
Recent Comments