Germline modification: Should people have the right to be disabled?

In a recent newsletter, The Center for Genetics and Society (CGS) is asking people to sign a letter they’ve drafted requesting the FDA not approve clinical trials of a genetic therapy which could prevent thousands of children a year here in the U.S. from being born with serious disabilities. So how does that square with their claim to be for the rights of the disabled?

No actual reasons are given as to exactly why germline modification is wrong; it is simply asserted, as though everyone should know why it is wrong. Are there possibilities for abuse? Certainly, but it is hard to come up with many things involving human behavior that cannot be abused.

Read the full, original story: The Right to be or not to be Disabled: A Response to the Center for Genetics and Society: (CGS)

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Additional Resources:

• Germline Gene Transfer, National Human Genome Research Institute
• Fixing a body’s broken genes is becoming possible, Economist