This week, the Food and Drug Administration debated a new IVF technique that could allow women with mitochondrial disease to have children who are genetically their own without the risk of passing along the condition. The proposed treatment involves yanking out the nucleus of a donor egg and popping in a nucleus from the mom-to-be.
Last winter, I attended a panel on the ethics of germline manipulation where participants debated a resolution to prohibit genetically engineered babies. Lee Silver (Princeton) and Nina Farahany (Duke Law) represented the anti position (i.e., let’s NOT prohibit genetically engineered babies) and won the debate by focusing on – wait for it — nuclear transfer for mitochondrial disease! Forbid genetic engineering, they argued, and you rule out this potentially game-changing therapy for afflicted families hoping to give their kids a life free from the burden of life-long, incurable disease. In other words, another slippery slope argument, only the other way round – accept the concept of regulation in any form, let the bureaucrats in, and you cut yourself off from progress and doom families forever to suffering that could have been prevented.
Slippery slope arguments are a plea to make things stand still for a moment, so a person can get their bearings. Anyone who works in genetics can relate to that sentiment. But history is itself a slippery slope from a turbulent past to an uncertain future, and we don’t have the luxury of stepping off. So what should we do about nuclear transfer for mitochondrial disease? Well, let’s make a decision based on mitochondrial disease and the very sensitive nature of the human embryo, which may not take kindly to this manipulation. Let’s not make it the last word on anything.
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Read full original article: It’s a Slippery Slope. Get Over it.
