Ethics and Genetics - here there is always a debate!

It is the end of week five, and I feel like I have learnt so much from this paper already! I am really enjoying working on the report with my team. It is very refreshing to be in contact with others doing the same paper and work as me.

My blog today is about something science related that is mixed up in ethics. A subject (ethics) that is very important to us as we explore our second assignment.

In Britain, new rules are being proposed that would make it the first country in the world to allow embryos to be made from the DNA of three people in order to prevent mothers from passing on fatal genetic diseases to their babies.

This has been designed for women who carry the severe mitochondrial disease the opportunity to carry children without passing on this genetic disorder. Defeats from the mitochondria's genetic code can result in diseases like muscular dystrophy, heart problems and mental retardation. 

Myself, I did not know that was even possible to do. But apparently the process involves removing the nucleus DNA from egg of the mother into a donor egg. Scientists are saying that only 1% of the DNA from the donor egg will be in the resulting embryo's genes. But that 1% change will be passed onto future generations.

But this has the Human Genetics Alert, which opposes most genetic and fertilization research jumping up and down. They think the medical field is crossing that crucial ethical line that would open up the door to designer babies.

For me, this is where it gets hard. This medical research could change the lives of some women and the children they want to have. But critics are saying this is unnecessary, as the women that have these diseases could use alternative treatment such as an egg donor. But the DNA then would mean the baby is not genetically the mother's at all.

Ethically it is alright to have an entire egg or sperm that shares no genetic history to the person needing it inserted into another person. So how is that alright, but changing 1% of the DNA of the mothers egg for medical reasons is not? I can see where they can see the future being paved for designer babies. But if the only option was for medical reasons, so that these women just like the women who can only rely on a donor egg could have their own child, then why not?

Here I stand completely torn. I know I do not know enough about this subject to make a sound judgement. I feel for medical reasons, this is an opening to prevent a disease from spreading throughout more generations as a positive. But as the same time, here we start to tinker more with genetics and the big ethical debate of interfering with what is considered biological and given. Genetically modified babies does not have a sweet ring to it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11375956