The front page of The New York Times on Monday carried a story by Gina Kolata that told a compelling tale of a woman with a deadly genetic disease who was able to have children knowing they did not carry the lethal gene. The children were conceived through in-vitro fertilization and tested for the gene before unaffected embryos were implanted.
This is not a new development. The idea of testing embryos for genetic diseases before implantation has been around for more than 20 years. Yet the Times put it on the front page.
“Genetic testing of embryos has been around for more than a decade,” Kolata writes, “but its use has soared in recent years.” That’s worth a story, but is it worth the front page, considering that genetic testing of embryos has been around for more than two decades?
Read the full, original article: Not news: NY Times recycles the same old ethical questions again
Additional Resources:
- Genetic screening of embryos thwarts disease and creates ethical questions, New York Times
- The erosion of genetic privacy, New York Times
