Genetically Engineered Babies? “30 million people in the United States are living with rare diseases. This equates to 1 in 10 Americans or 10% of the U.S. population” (“RARE…”). These people are often concerned about passing on that disease to the next generation. Through modern science, a safe and effective way to eliminate a disease forever in a bloodline has been growing in popularity: Embryo screening. Testing embryos for diseases before being implanted into the mother is a topic with growing controversy (Pray). Even though embryo screening could be seen as unnatural or immoral, the benefit to the human population far exceed those moral values. The scientific name for embryo screening is Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis or PGD for short
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In addition, if a child was not conceived through PGD and was born with a genetic disability, hospital and therapy bills for treating that disease would be unnecessary added expenses, which could make the cost of embryo screening less expensive in the long run. When it comes down to discarding embryos, it’s up to the morals of the parents whether it is the right thing to do given their individual circumstances. Also, the decision to terminate a pregnancy of a developing fetus after discovering it has a harmful disorder would be even more emotionally difficult than discarding embryos before they grow into babies. Even though there are no regulations in the U.S. about the reasoning behind the use of PGD, it’s usage is ultimately up to the decision of the clinics who perform the procedure (O’Donnell). Lee Silver, a Professor of Genetics at Princeton University whose laboratory is used to identify new genes linked to genetic disease, responded, “we are the ones who invented this technology and we’re going to use it to study pediatric disease. At the moment, we will make sure the technology is used only for that purpose” (O’Donnell). PGD can screen for hundreds of diseases and disorders including Cystic Fibrosis, Hemophilia, Sickle Cell Anemia, and even early onset Alzheimer’s (Sherbahn). Making scientific discoveries about our genes using this advanced technology could also open new scientific doors to finding cures to diseases that we haven’t found yet, so that one day, we could test for many more diseases using new technologies to advance us even further
In addition, if a child was not conceived through PGD and was born with a genetic disability, hospital and therapy bills for treating that disease would be unnecessary added expenses, which could make the cost of embryo screening less expensive in the long run. When it comes down to discarding embryos, it’s up to the morals of the parents whether it is the right thing to do given their individual circumstances. Also, the decision to terminate a pregnancy of a developing fetus after discovering it has a harmful disorder would be even more emotionally difficult than discarding embryos before they grow into babies. Even though there are no regulations in the U.S. about the reasoning behind the use of PGD, it’s usage is ultimately up to the decision of the clinics who perform the procedure (O’Donnell). Lee Silver, a Professor of Genetics at Princeton University whose laboratory is used to identify new genes linked to genetic disease, responded, “we are the ones who invented this technology and we’re going to use it to study pediatric disease. At the moment, we will make sure the technology is used only for that purpose” (O’Donnell). PGD can screen for hundreds of diseases and disorders including Cystic Fibrosis, Hemophilia, Sickle Cell Anemia, and even early onset Alzheimer’s (Sherbahn). Making scientific discoveries about our genes using this advanced technology could also open new scientific doors to finding cures to diseases that we haven’t found yet, so that one day, we could test for many more diseases using new technologies to advance us even further