CAJ #13: Opinion and a TED talk

• Does the science in your topic benefit everybody? If so, who does it benefit the most?

Generally, I believe that almost everyone could benefit from PGD and other related reproductive technologies. Even though it is nowadays mostly used for infertile couples and mothers who have had multiple miscarriages to conceive a healthy child, free of genetic or chromosomal disorders, further research could make it possible to detect faulty genes that are responsible for diseases such as diabetes or obesity. It does indeed benefit a lot of women who cannot conceive the traditional way, and couples who carry genetic diseases and would like for their future children to be born without them. Additionally, there are a few private clinics (mostly in the US) who offer parents the possibility of choosing their baby’s gender as well as hair and eye color.

• If it does not benefit everybody equally, should society be paying for the research?

Let’s start with some statistics here: 1 in 8 couples has trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. (2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, CDC) And it is estimated that 350 million people worldwide suffer from rare diseases, 80 % of which are caused by faulty genes. So, if more money would go into research, scientists could be able to find out which diseases are caused by which faulty genes and generations of people with genetic disorders could be prevented. People wouldn’t have to endure the consequences of their diseases anymore. PGD can nowadays be used to test for over 100 genetic conditions. Besides, it does already benefit a lot of people, although the science is considered extremely controversial.

• A TED talk related to my CAJ:

http://www.ted.com/talks/harvey_fineberg_are_we_ready_for_neo_evolution#t-1014938

This TED talk by medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg describes three possible paths for the ever-evolving human species to further develop: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally — or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make people smarter, more athletic and simply better. What do you think?

Did it teach me anything new? 

Everything is evolving really fast. For instance, let’s take a look at the Human Genome Project: the HGP started in 1990 and it took 13 years to sequence the human genome. It cost around 2.7 billion dollars. One year later it took “only” 20 million dollars to do the exact same job, but took only 3 to 4 months. Nowadays, you can have a complete sequence of the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome at a cost of about 20,000 dollars, in about a week.

But we also need to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages that come with such new technologies. It’s never just simply right or wrong, because there are always two sides to everything. Well, that I have learned through my CAJ experience.