Friday, March 14, 2014

More on Designer Babies


This weeks SCIENCE has an excellent opinion article from Thomas Murray, the former head of the Hastings Center, on the topic of ‘Designer Babies’. It deals with the current issue of the FDA’s consideration of ‘3-parent babies’ to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial defects (discussed in a previous blog post here). It also goes on to discuss the approach of the personal genomics company 23andMe that can provide genetic information that can potentially enhance the choice of sperm (or egg) donors so as to avoid genetic disease or possibly to accrue desirable traits. Murray points out the many ethical and regulatory complexities inherent in the whole concept of designer babies. Overall a worthwhile read for anyone interest in understanding the intricacies involved in  approaches to human enhancement.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6176/1208.full?sid=0fea48ad-6575-4879-b135-03f1afc684d4

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