Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
on ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American medical Association (AmA
1994) and other writers warn that PGD could ultimately produce a two-
tiered society. in this scenario, children of a relatively wealthy group of in-
dividuals are free of genetic disease and possess predispositions for desir-
able physical, cognitive, and personality traits; whereas, genetic disease
and less desirable traits accumulate in the lower tier of the population
whose members cannot afford PGD or genetic enhancement technologies.
even if such a tiered society did not develop, there is danger for margin-
alization and inattention to those with genetic diseases or disabilities in a
society that is systematically using genetic and assisted reproduction tech-
nologies to eliminate undesired genes from the gene pool. Persons carrying
these genes would likely be less attractive as mates and perhaps be looked
upon as having been products of irresponsible parents who did nothing to
prevent their birth.
social pressure on parents to employ expensive genetic and reproduc-
tive technologies to give their children a head start could create finan-
cial burdens on many families and decrease appreciation for what ethicist
michael sandel (2007) calls the “giftedness” of children conceived natu-
rally. Germ-line genetic enhancements via PGD could make physical and
psychological characteristics of individuals in one generation subject to pa-
rental values and the whims of social preferences of an earlier generation.
finally, our appreciation for diversity, achieved through the blood and suf-
fering of many generations, could evaporate with increased pressure for so-
cial uniformity through genetic biotechnologies.
Regulation of PGD
Presently ivf and PGD in the United states are not subject to governmental
regulation. According to an issue brief in the
Duke Law and Technology Re-
view
(roberts 2002), one reason for this is lobbying by anti-abortion groups
in the United states that keeps in place the ban on federal funding for insti-
tutions doing research with human embryos and assisted conception. The
result is that ivf and PGD are not performed in government-funded uni-
versities or hospitals. instead, the market drives these procedures into the
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