Sequencing the Unborn

sciencehabit writes "What if you could read much of your child's medical future while it was still in the womb? Taking a major step toward that goal, one fraught with therapeutic potential and ethical questions, scientists have now accurately predicted almost the whole genome of an unborn child by sequencing DNA from the mother's blood and DNA from the father's saliva (abstract)."

Comments

Eugenics

[Ironchew]

What if you could read much of your child's medical future while it was still in the womb?

The more worrying question here in the U.S. is, "What if your insurance company could decide your child's medical access while it was still in the womb, based on poorly-understood genetic risk factors and eugenics pseudoscience?"

Re:TFA's Scientist's take on Gattaca problem

[interkin3tic]

I disagree with you both. I find nothing ethically wrong with abortion or screening for diseases. How about we let parents decide whether it's ethical for them?