Friday, October 11, 2013

Are “designer babies” considered ethical?

We have developed a technique that would allow a woman to have a child that is not affected by this disease. and yet the child would be related to her genetically.”
- Dieter Egli, the New York Stem Cell Foundation
“Proposed treatment to fix genetic diseases raises ethical issues”, an article written by Rob Stein for NPR, briefly describes the issue soon to be brought to court. 

This is an image of mitochondria, which is one of the largest energy sources of a cell.
Lori Martin, 33, a resident of Houston, also a mother, is faced with the challenge of raising a son with a fatal condition. Will, Lori’s son, was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease known as Leigh’s syndrome, at the young age of two. They were also notified that he was born with this condition, but were unaware of this due to lack of symptoms. Leigh’s syndrome is a progressive genetic condition, already affecting Will’s muscle tone and has given him a speech impairment.
Lori commented "The experience of being told that your son is basically going to die and you don't know when or how, but — it's obviously life-changing, and it completely wrecks your world.”
Lori and her husband are working hard to give Will a happy life, despite the length. They also want more children. Unfortunately, her doctor advised her against doing so. This is because she’s a carrier, so it’s best that she doesn’t have any more biological children using her own eggs. She was devastated with this news, because she was planning on having several more children.
Scientists have proposed research to prevent cases like Lori’s and Will’s from ever occurring. However, the federal government is still debating on whether scientists should be allowed to take such a huge chance. The procedure consists of making changes to the genes of the mother’s egg, so the genes without the disease in the mitochondrial DNA are selected.
Mark Sauer, a faculty member at Columbia University Medical Center, is in favor of the research, and describes the practice in preventing the spread of this genetic disease as noble. This technique would make is possible for a potential mother to be genetically related to her child, but still prevent him from having the disease. The procedure would consist of doctors abstracting eggs from women and removing all the genes except those for the mitochondrial DNA. They would continue by performing this exact procedure on eggs that have been donated by women with the healthy mitochondrial DNA. The DNA of the mother is transported into the donated egg. Now, this egg consists of all of the DNA from the mother, including healthy mitochondrial DNA from the donor. This egg is then fertilized in a laboratory with the sperm of the father, and the embryo is injected into the mother’s womb. This idea has already been successfully conducted on monkeys by a group of scientists in Oregon. Not only have they already breeded healthy monkeys, but they have also created human embryos. They, along with the New York research group, propose to take the next step in breeding healthy human babies. The research has already been approved by the British government.
This sort of solution sounds miraculous to most people. But there is always a downside. This research raises several issues, one being that it could create “designer babies.” A court hearing has been scheduled by the Food and Drug Administration, on the 22nd of this month, to further discuss and consider the issues. Another reason why this is controversial is because the child would inherit genes from three sources- the father, mother, and egg donor. The child may experience a dilemma in their identity. But more importantly, there are safety concerns and although the current issue may be resolved, scientists may accidentally bring new diseases into the human gene pool. These diseases or mutations won’t only affect the newly created baby, but the generation following that child, and so on.


The main concern is that this procedure will lead to the acceptance of creating designer babies. If changing mitochondrial DNA is deemed successful, people will be interested in creating designer babies. This may eventually lead to genetic engineering used for purposes of creating for example, intelligent or athletic children, or children with blonde hair and blue eyes. Scientists agree that abuse in medicine does occur, but not in this case. They have agreed that his practice is completely safe. Lori, mother of Will, has commented in favor of the research. Although it is too late to help Will, she hopes that no mother has to experience what she has to go through. 
One of the ethical issues raised in this case is the use of animals for experiments. Do scientists have the right to use animals for our own benefit? Emily Anthes mentions in her book “Frankenstein’s Cat that a “troubled middle” exists. She believes that every case has to be evaluated individually, but always in the best interest of the animals. Anthes states “We’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible.” By this, she is referring to the fact that we don’t know what the future holds and the research may even benefit the animals being tested. Throughout the book, Anthes further writes about the pros and cons of the applications of biotechnology. For example, there are several ethical issues with cloning; however, she discusses some of the advantages of it. One, it is a harmless process because it requires only the DNA from skin cells, unlike many other genetic research experiments, requiring sperm or eggs. Anthes continues to describe several encounters she has experienced with engineers, biologists, veterinarians, etc, and with all of these experiments these days, one can only wonder, what is the limit? Even if we are able to conduct these up and coming experiments, should we? Several moral and ethical issues are continuously being raised as these experiments, technology, and ideas are expanding. My favorite chapter in her book is one describing how a dolphin affected the life of human amputees. A dolphin, named Winter, has experienced an unfortunate event as her tail was caught in a fish trap, and sadly, she lost her tail. As soon as this hit the news, a scientist heard the story and glued on a set of prosthetic tails with a specific gel. After noticing how great the gel worked, scientists have decided to use it on human patients, particularly those missing limbs. It is both water and sweat proof and gently attaches to human skin. To conclude, Anthes supports the use of genetic engineering, but to an extent. She believes in limits and also evaluating every case specially and cautiously.
Sources:
Anthes, E. (2013). Nine Lives. Frankentstein's Cat Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts. New York City: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux


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