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Recent breakthroughs have made it possible to scan every chromosome in a single embryonic cell, to test for genes involved in hundreds of “conditions,” some of which are clearly life-threatening while others are less dramatic and less certain – unlikely to strike until adulthood if they strike at all.
And science is far from finished. On the horizon are DNA microchips able to analyze more than a thousand traits at once, those linked not just to a child's health but to enhancements – genes that influence height, intelligence, hair, skin and eye colour and athletic ability.
Unnatural selection: Is evolving reproductive technology ushering in a new age of eugenics? - The Globe and Mail
Seeded on Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:57 AM EST
Article Source: The Globe and Mail
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Critics ranging from religious conservatives to advocates for the disabled worry that a new age of eugenics is rising, propelled not by racists, despots or elitists but by parental aspiration. Says Bernard Dickens, an expert in reproductive law and bioethics with the University of Toronto, this technology is “all part of the quest for the perfect child.”
That quest was once the domain of science fiction. But last year the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration compiled a list of the most plausible sci-fi films. From thousands of candidates, NASA picked seven, led by the 1997 thriller Gattaca. Set in “the very near future,” it depicts a eugenic dystopia created by embryo screening, in which people born naturally suffer in the shadow of those who begin life in a lab.
- 2 votes
#1 - Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:59 AM ESTAnd all the meanwhile, the problem of too much reproduction gets ignored, or worse, denied.
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:16 AM ESTYeah. That's the biggest problem they ought to be tackling, but there's no profit in telling people to stop having babies while making designer babies is immensely profitable. IVF typically costs thirty grand or more. These "enhancements" will add even steeper costs and (supposedly) will bring in new customers -- fertile couples. This high cost guarantees it will create a new elite class of designer babies on top of the other elitist classes already looking down in disdain at other people.
- 1 vote
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