Human genetic editing has become a reality. This tremendous advance in technology carries great risks, not only for those genetically modified children (without their permission, I would add), but for the entire human race. The consequences of this intervention are far-reaching and potentially devastating.
What was once science fiction has now become a confirmed science feasibility not only within reach but also illegally practiced in China.
Scientists have discovered a way to change the DNA of embryos
Frontiers in Genetics reports in an article in the journal Parental Selective Reproduction: Genome Editing and Maternal Behavior as a Potential Problem by Andrea Lavazza that a Chinese geneticist implanted two modified embryos in two women. Two women were impregnated with genetically modified children.
Chinese geneticist He Jiankui implanted genetically modified embryos in two women after modifying the embryos in an attempt to make them more resistant to HIV. However, most studies say his experiment is unlikely to be successful. It has hardly prevented HIV in children, and there are a host of side effects associated with its intervention, including a weakened immune system and risks to vital organs.
Lavazza continues:
Proponents of human genetic editing cite the possibilities of treating or preventing disease as reasons for starting (or in some cases continuing) the use of this technique. However, genetic editing has yet to be proven as a viable option for disease prevention, and the risks are numerous, grim and dismal. Many believe that genetic editing can be easily disrupted and even used for eugenics. It can be used for control by selecting only the offspring of the elite who will possess certain desirable traits such as strength and intelligence, leaving the rest of the population with specially designed weakened traits.
Promotional video:
Technology allows parents to design their offspring
At the same time, ultrasound and DNA testing allows parents to make their own choices, making having a baby more like buying a car.
DNA testing combined with IVF allows some parents to try to have a “perfect baby”. Parents can now visit a clinic where they perform reproductive surgery, fertilize multiple embryos, and then select from them the traits they want their child to have.
Featured Related Movie: Gattaca
This article from the MIT Technology Review describes the test as "23andMe, but in embryos."
So what if your parents could kick you out because you were too young and they wanted a taller child? It seems far-fetched, but it is no longer so. This could be our new reality and even a form of literal social engineering. If you have the money, you can "design" a smarter or more athletic child. The social pressures to have the perfect baby through genetic editing could match the American craze for clothing brands and the latest and greatest car ever. Disturbing thought.
The techniques used in genetic editing are very similar to eugenics
David Keefe, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University's Fertility Center in Manhattan, was interviewed by the MIT Technology Review and expressed concern that parents are trying to choose their children as if they were choosing items from the "menu."
“The question immediately arises about eugenics,” he says.
Some, including Keefe, who morally argued that this kind of testing had gone too far, used the term eugenics to describe the techniques used in genetic editing. It is a process of selecting people for birth, based on an arbitrary definition of "perfect human". And we are not the first society to try to do this.
Nazi Germany is an excellent example of the results of the introduction of eugenics. During the reign of Hitler, Germany, as you know, allowed only the "desired" people to live and sent the rest to the "death camps" to be "destroyed". Among these unwanted people, among other unfortunate people, were invalids and notorious Jews.
And our generation is not to blame.
The potential for genocide, which comes with genetic editing, is absolutely real. Science and technology have already been used to engineer the extermination of entire groups of people with Down syndrome. Whole countries, including Denmark and Iceland and, yes, the United States, are deficient in the number of people with Down syndrome they should naturally have. And this is not because there is a cure. This is because children with Down syndrome are quitting. European countries and the United States are using ultrasound, prenatal testing and "heavy genetic counseling" to cull people before they are born.
Making designer kids will have serious consequences
In an article titled "The Real Problem of Down Syndrome: Taking Genocide," George F. Will wrote:
This scenario of genocide and eugenics is not particularly new. We, as a society, have just found new technology to implement these morally questionable practices. Of the other societies that have gone the way of limiting children to the "desired" child, there were no winners, only losers.
Take another example - China with its one-child policy. As explained in GlobalDev, male children were the preferred gender, so the Chinese women interrupted or left many female children and left only men. As a result, an entire generation has too many male children. This has caused a host of unforeseen problems, including rising crime, rising violence and low birth rates.
One can only imagine the total chaos that would result from a generation of "edited" and "custom" children. History should have taught us caution and restraint, but it looks like the "we can" charm could overcome the question "should we?"
What do you think?
Do you think there are benefits to genetic editing? Or do you think messing around with Mother Nature in this way is a terrible idea? Please share your thoughts in the comments.