Reproductive Genetic Technologies Should Be Used Only To Combat Disease, Infertility, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 26 Jul 2007 - 15:00 PDT

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Genetic technologies "aimed at combating disease or infertility" should be allowed, but technologies used to "go beyond the curative to enhance the germ line DNA of our offspring" should be banned, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece. Some of the "most monumental decisions we will face in the coming years will involve where we draw the line" on the legality of certain genetic procedures, and one of the "crucial evolving technologies" is preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Kristof writes (Kristof, New York Times, 7/23).

PGD involves removing a single cell from a three-day-old embryo to test for potential birth defects and then implanting the embryos most likely to result in a healthy infant. Only a few thousand PGD procedures are performed annually, although some researchers say the procedure has been increasing by as much as 30% per year (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/5).

According to Kristof, PGD in certain circumstances and compensation for women who donate eggs for fertility treatments should be allowed. In addition, the practice of U.S. couples paying women in countries such as India is "troubl[ing]," but it also "passes muster" because it allows surrogates to earn "substantial sums at less risk than with their other options" and helps infertile U.S. couples who might not otherwise be able to afford an infant, Kristof writes.

"What should cross the line into illegality is fiddling with the heritable DNA of humans to make them smarter, faster or more pious -- or more deaf," Kristof writes, concluding, "That is playing God, not just with a particular embryo, but with our species, and we should ban it" (New York Times, 7/23).

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