Advancement in technology enables genetic screening of unborn babies. This has sparked a worldwide debate whether genetic screening of human embryos should be allowed or banned as it might lead to the tendency of developing designer babies. However, genetic screening if not misused can prove a boon to develop a world free of untreatable genetic disorders by detecting such disabilities in embryos and leaving it to the parents to decide whether they want the unborn child to see the light of the day or be destroyed in the womb.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority – the fertility watchdog is going to grant its first license next week to a British couple to test embryos to detect a rare disease called familial hypercholesterolaemia or FH. The test will indicate whether the unborn child suffers from a milder form of FH that can be treated with drugs or a more severe form of the disease that can cause angina in children as young as six years.
The couple who had been given permission to screen their embryos has the mild form of the condition and their daughter now aged five was born with the serious type of FH.
The IVF clinics can move ahead with screening for high cholesterol genes and other severe genetic disorders in embryos. However, it will always lead to the controversy whether we are moving to a world where its citizens will gain prominence according to their genetic traits and physically weak people will have no right to remain alive. Some say that the process will eliminate the agony suffered by physically, mentally disabled people, and their parents. In the process, aren’t we moving according to the design once popularized by the Nazi to develop a genetically pure race?
Source:daily mail
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