Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Genetics, continued

Posting a blog is impossible.  Can't even find my own blog!  No even Google had it without my "blog name", which I finally have learned!
In any case, to continue about genetic inheritance: a problem about genetic privacy keeps cropping up every few years.  Who owns my genome?  Who can access my genome and use it for "scientific" research.  How should we use knowledge of our genetic inheritance, or that of our spouse?  What about child-bearing decisions?  How should we, or the rest of society use that information?  Can we ethically limit or eliminate child-bearing in order to prevent the inheritance of genetic abnormalities?
The easier it becomes to analyze our complete compliment of genes (billions!) and determine what mutations we have inherited, the more careful we have to be about how we use that information, and how much access we should allow to that information to others.
Several recent articles have warned against the resurgence of the old Eugenics movement of the early 20th Century- which started as an "altruistic" way of controlling the birth and maintenance in institutions of "unfit" babies and adults, and ending with the evil practices of racial Nazism.  Unlike the earlier age, we now don't have to wait for a 'damaged' child to be born to "protect" society by eliminating it!  We can make the decision not to have children, or we can opt for late-term abortions- (not possible most of the time to diagnos genetic damage in a fetus in utero at the early stages)-- neither option being very attractive.
And, could a corrupt scientist use genetic information for profit?   What can we really do with children with massive genetically-caused health problems?   Who  pays for perpetual care and education of these children?  Should we screen all fetuses for known genetic mutations and approve the elimination of certain genetically defective fetuses?  All of these questions have now arisin again in the scientific community (See, "The Future of Neo-eugenics" by Armand Marie Leroi, for EMBO Reports, Vol 7/No.12/2006; and "DNA" by Dr. James D. Watson, Alfred A. Knopf 2003, Ch. 12, "Defying Disease", p. and, Coda: 'Our Genes and Our Future', p. 395.)
I am writing a story set in the near future which uses these issues as a starting point, adding bad guys and good guys with the aim of turning it into a screenplay.   Not that simple.  Will keep you and me posted about progress.  Any questions?

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