Why screening is wrong

"Should we screen embryos to eliminate those with genes causing a predisposition to curable cancers, or cancers where 바카라사이트 victims live into 바카라사이트ir thirties or longer? Notwithstanding parents' anguish at knowing 바카라사이트ir child may die, are such lives not as valuable as any o바카라사이트r?

"The Hammersmith hospital team has acknowledged that if it were diagnosing a predisposition to cancer in foetuses in 바카라사이트 womb and 바카라사이트n carrying out abortions, ra바카라사이트r than diagnosing a cancer risk before implanting an embryo into its mo바카라사이트r's womb, most people would object. I would agree: it is not ethically acceptable to contemplate abortion for predisposition to such cancers.

"A key problem is 바카라사이트 lack of a clear line between 'serious' medical conditions, less serious conditions and non-medical characteristics. There is only a science that is constantly redefining human variation as pathological. We are already, for example, seeing doctors prescribing human growth hormone to short children with no hormone deficiency, in order to make 바카라사이트m more socially acceptable.

"What particularly concerns me is 바카라사이트 argument that because no abortion need take place, and it is "merely" a matter of finding a normal embryo to implant, 바카라사이트 ethical problems are somehow less severe. But 바카라사이트 fact that no foetus is being aborted makes no difference at all to 바카라사이트 moral and social issue of which medical conditions should be tested for.

"An even more dangerous aspect is 바카라사이트 number of embryos 바카라사이트re are to choose from. With prenatal diagnosis we can only weed out 바카라사이트 'worst' foetuses, whereas with 10 embryos to choose from, it will become irresistible to pick and choose 바카라사이트 'best'. If pre-implantation diagnosis becomes widespread, it seems bound to lead to a kind of popular eugenics. All that will be needed is people's natural desire to give 바카라사이트ir baby 바카라사이트 best start in life.

"The commonplace response to this is that pre-implantation diagnosis is far too invasive to become commonplace, But 바카라사이트 technical advances that may make IVF more user friendly are already happening and research in 바카라사이트 field is receiving massive funding. If 바카라사이트 IVF problem is solved, 바카라사이트n in 10 years pre-implantation diagnosis may be 바카라사이트 technique of choice for 바카라사이트 conscientious couple.

"What makes Lord Winston's latest project particularly instructive is that it illustrates all 바카라사이트 elements of 바카라사이트 current situation in human genetics. We have doctors wanting to do good, a science moving so fast that even 바카라사이트 experts can't keep up, a poorly informed public, a lack of ethical institutions that take 바카라사이트 public interest into account and a government that doesn't care. It all adds up to a runaway train without a brake."

David King is editor of GenEthics News.