When reading “Tomorrow's Children”, the following statement about Ruthie’s story was one that made me jump to conclusions about people similar to Ruthie: “What makes Ruthie’s performance even more extraordinary is her DNA. Because of a misspelling in one of her genes, she has albinism…” (Hayden 402) When I read this, I immediately wondered how being ‘pale’ would stop Ruthie from being an accomplished basketball player. Little did I know that albinism is associated with being legally blind. My insensitive reaction stems from conventional wisdom about the superficial effects of albinism. My lack of understanding of this particular genetic disorder reinforces how essential it is to hear the voice of those affected by genetic conditions when dealing with ethical issues.
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If there was a room somewhere where someone said, “Look, you can go in there and have your DNA changed,’ I would be there breaking the door down.”(Hayden 403) This statement reminded me of an argument that one of my classmates had made during our essay discussion. As someone who has an uncle with a genetic disorder, she provided a practical viewpoint in which she said that you can not ignore the emotional and financial stress that having disabled family member poses. Germline editing can provide a “public health benefit in access to germline genome editing because it might somewhat reduce the prevalence of many devastating diseases, such as Tay-Sach’s and Huntington’s disease.” as stated in “Human Genome Editing” (94) I have seen the devastating effects of neurodegenerative disorders with my great aunt having ALS. If there were an option of reducing the prevalence of these disorders, I would like to explore these
If there was a room somewhere where someone said, “Look, you can go in there and have your DNA changed,’ I would be there breaking the door down.”(Hayden 403) This statement reminded me of an argument that one of my classmates had made during our essay discussion. As someone who has an uncle with a genetic disorder, she provided a practical viewpoint in which she said that you can not ignore the emotional and financial stress that having disabled family member poses. Germline editing can provide a “public health benefit in access to germline genome editing because it might somewhat reduce the prevalence of many devastating diseases, such as Tay-Sach’s and Huntington’s disease.” as stated in “Human Genome Editing” (94) I have seen the devastating effects of neurodegenerative disorders with my great aunt having ALS. If there were an option of reducing the prevalence of these disorders, I would like to explore these