Designer Babies, Version 1.0

Stickerboy writes: "A 30 year-old woman in Chicago gave birth to a pre-pregnancy genetically screened and selected baby 17 months ago, which is being reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association today. Doctors at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago took 23 eggs from her, screened the eggs for a gene that causes an early form of Alzheimer's, and then fertilized and implanted the eggs back in her womb. Shades of the movie Gattaca - this is a good specific development, but the start of a very controversial trend. Read more about it in the Washington Post or read the abstract in JAMA."

Comments

Dude

[Unknown Poltroon]

I can see the corn you had for lunch yesterday.

Family Ethics

[gdyas]

Sure, this is a good thing for the kid, but is it ethical for a doc to help a woman who's likely to be senile by the time her kids are in elementary school overcome such disadvantages and give birth, by any means?

Well, guess it's her choice, bad though it may be. Just 10 years ago she might've just gotten a hysterectomy, adopted, and moved on. Personally, I just don't understand the NEED to have your own kids. In a world where needy kids need to be adopted, it strikes me as more than a little self-centered to see high-tech IVF methods as NEEDED so you can have YOUR baby.

It's like the sow in the midwest that had 7 kids, half of them retarded. They weren't a sign from God, sweetie. The infertility was the sign from God. Whatever though. Do what you like. Just don't ever expect my insurance payments to cover it.