Genetic screening challenges the natural order of human life, as parents all over the world now have the disturbing option to customize their children.
Earlier this week, the UCLA Center for Society and Genetics presented its fifth annual symposium, “The Genetic Marketplace: A Citizen’s Guide to the Genomic Bazaar,” to explore concerns regarding advances in human genetics research.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or embryonic screening, is offered at clinics across the U.S., including the Tyler Medical Clinic in Westwood, founded by the late Edward T. Tyler, who had close ties with the UCLA Medical School.
According to the Tyler Medical Clinic Web site, PGD is employed after in-vitro fertilization and is when a cell taken from the embryo is screened for defects.
Primarily used for families with a history of serious genetic disorders, ethical dilemmas arise as PGD becomes more easily accessible.
Initially, PGD’s purpose was to bring healthy children into this world. Yet, as the screening process becomes more thorough, couples will be able to decide specific traits they desire for their child.
For example, deaf parents can choose to have a deaf baby and dwarf parents can choose to have dwarf children.
A recent survey found that 3 percent of U.S. clinics offering PGD have assisted families in giving birth to disabled children, according to MSNBC.
Although this is a small percentage, the option to design a baby will become more prevalent, especially for our generation.
But how ethical is this?
Should genetic screening only be used to improve an unborn’s quality of life or be left up to parental discretion? What boundaries, if any, should be placed on PGD?
“Creating restrictions for embryonic screening is a complex problem. People can choose not to have a disabled child and no one thinks anything of it, but it’s a slippery slope when it goes the other way,” said Dr. Virginia Erickson of the UCLA Medical Center.
The idea of designing a baby is terrifying, but at the same time, I understand the intrinsic desire of parents to have offspring who are like them.
However, consciously putting your child at a disadvantage crosses the bounds of acceptable use of PGD.
No one wants their children to suffer or to have a defect stopping them from fully functioning.
However, some parents may choose such a path to achieve a certain type of family.
“If a family chooses to have a disabled child, and they support and understand the child, then it is their choice, their responsibility to deal with problems that arise,” said Dr. James Higgins of the UCLA Medical Center.
It seems to me that to use PGD to purposely have a disabled child because you want a child like you is an abuse of medical advances, but perhaps the situation is more complicated.
“If society sincerely believes that being disabled makes a person no worse than anybody else, then such a decision should not bother us,” said Brandon Kim, a fourth-year molecular, cellular and developmental biology student. “Yet, we are still aghast that parents would sacrifice their children’s potential for an ideal similarly sized nuclear family. But I personally cannot sensibly come to a conclusion.”
Higgins shares this uncertainty.
“I don’t know if it’s ethical or not. It’s interesting because you hear about families using embryonic screening to avoid having a disabled child, but this is a new complication to consider,” Higgins said.
If you truly want a disabled child, another option would be to consider adopting one of the many special needs children who lack a home and a loving family.
Children with disabilities need extra support throughout their lives regardless of their problem.
To feel no guilt when a child struggles to achieve healthy physical, social and mental life when their parent has purposely caused their problem can be perceived as nearly perverted. And while an understanding parent can help, eventually the parent will no longer be around to offer that support.
Even with social accommodations and tolerance, which of course society needs, disabled children are still at a disadvantage.
This use of PGD to construct disabled children demonstrates the need to address the potential complications that will affect society at large.
Would you like to build a baby? E-mail Bissell at abissell@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.