![]() Inheritable genetic modification can allow couples to "enhance" their children to be healthier, longer lived, more athletic, more intelligent, more attractive, and in general to have more of the qualities that all of us wish for our children.Ĥ. Inheritable genetic modification can allow a couple, both of whom are homozygous for a defective gene, to have a healthy child that is related to both of them.ģ. Inheritable genetic modification can be used to allow couples to avoid passing on serious genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs.Ģ. Many problems that might be created as a result of germline modification could be corrected by using the same techniques that caused them.Īrguments in Favor of Inheritable Genetic Modificationġ. Society can pledge to compensate anyone who suffers. All innovative efforts at medical progress entail some risk. We can aim to modify genes at the germline level in ways that block their transmission to the next generation.Ĥ. Society can redress inequalities created by IGM by distributional transfers of resources after the fact, or can prevent inequalities by making IGM services available to all people.ģ. Germline-engineered children need not be considered "objects" to any greater degree than are non-germline-engineered children.Ģ. Rebuttals to Arguments Against Inheritable Genetic Modificationġ. It would be impossible to anticipate fully the effects of inserting genes into human cells. Inheritable genetic modification constitutes inherently unsafe human experimentation. Unanticipated negative effects of IGM would be passed on to all future generations.Ĥ. Even proponents of IGM acknowledge that such practices could lead to the emergence of "genetic castes," and of social rifts so vast that any notion of a common humanity could be lost, with horrific consequences.ģ. Germline manipulation would always be expensive, and real or perceived "enhancements" would thus accrue to the offspring of the affluent. IGM is a eugenic technology that would almost certainly increase the social and economic disparities between privileged elites and the great majority of others. This would change the nature of the parent-child relationship, and would likely have other profound and destabilizing socio-cultural impacts.Ģ. Germline technologies would contribute strongly to parental expectations of "pre-selecting" their children's traits, and to the cultural construction of human beings as biologically perfectible artifacts. IGM would lead to treating children and all people like objects. Arguments Against Inheritable Genetic Modificationġ. ![]()
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