Free Republic

The successful efforts of the Human Genome Project rightfully stand amongst the greatest intellectual achievements of human history. The brilliance and diligence displayed in this research cannot be quantified or described in a way that does it all justice. However, the question now becomes what we actually do with the knowledge of the human genome? Given the previous history of human technology, the heroic industry and intelligence of the scientists who achieved this discovery will in no way guarantee that it won’t fall into the hands of evil despots or malicious haters. It becomes possible that human beings as we...

Genetic Screening Can Help Prevent Maladies Later In Life, But How Far Should Pre-Selecting Embryos Go? Thoreau said that every child begins the world again. Thoreau was right, of course. But he never had children of his own. He never spent nine months in the dark, wondering if his baby would be born whole, healthy, or at all. But what was once a final verdict at childbirth has been transformed, in many cases, by a series of medical choices that can be made long before the first labor pains. New York University's Dr. Jamie Grifo helped pioneer a technique that...

A couple who sued a fertility clinic after the wife gave birth to a daughter whose skin they thought was too dark for her to be their child may proceed with their lawsuit, a judge has ruled. Thomas and Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses. They said the Park Avenue clinic botched the insemination of Nancy Andrews' eggs. The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas...

Note: This commentary may not be suitable for young children. Please use parental discretion. Leann Mischel, a Pennsylvania college professor, was ready to have a second child. And she wanted the new baby to have the same father her son did. The problem was that Mischel had no idea who he was: The father of her son was “Donor 401” at a sperm bank. And the bank had sold out of Donor 401’s genetic material. But Mischel was in luck. As the Washington Post put it, Carla Schouten, another sperm-bank mother from San Jose, had “the gift of a lifetime...

A couple has been given the go-ahead to use IVF to conceive a genetically screened "designer" baby in a desperate bid to cure their terminally ill child. It is thought to be the first time in Australia that approval has been granted to use IVF in combination with genetic screening and tissue matching to create a "donor" child for a sick sibling. The child, whose condition is unknown, is believed to suffer from a terminal illness, with survival dependent on a transfusion of umbilical cord blood from a perfectly matched sibling. The technique involves embryos, created using IVF, being screened...