Genetics

The New York Times reported that for the first time in history, researchers had mapped one of the 23 pairs of chro­mosomes that make up every cell in the human body.

Once all of the genes in the human body are mapped, the genetic roots of diseases, disabilities, and various physical traits can be identified. But, as DAA notes in it's submission to the World Health Organization (WHO) Consultation: Ethical Issues in Cloning & Biotechnology, the current appli­cation of this research tends less toward exploring cures for diseases and more toward eugenics, the science of improving the human race through selective breeding. Using genetic testing to verify that certain conditions are present in a fetus results not in new methods to treat or eliminate the disor­ders but in the abortion of babies that are perceived as having defects.

Prenatal testing, the screening of foetal cells for genetic problems, has traditionally been done in some countries when parents fear their foetus is at risk for a certain condition. In the future, older testing methods such as amniocentesis will be replaced by the genetic screening of foetal cells from the mother's blood sample. Moreover, the reproductiye, tech­nology (medically assisted ways of conceiving children) now used in some countries will be supplemented by more radical methods. In vitro fertilization, in which eggs taken from a woman's body are combined with sperm in a labora­tory in hopes of producing a fertilized egg or embryo, has already been paired with ex utero genetic testing in some countries. In ex utero genetic testing, cells are taken from the embryo for DNA analysis—and only embryos that do not carry unwanted genetic traits are implanted in the woman's uterus. Given the choice and the ability, people may very well decide to have only the children that meet their expectations for the perfect baby.

For some people, the best way to conceive the perfect baby may be through cloning, a technique that produces an organism that is genetically identical to a parent. In 1997 Scottish scien­tists announced the birth of a sheep named Dolly who had been cloned from the cell of another adult female sheep. Several other successful cloning experiments followed soon after this discovery, including the production of an embryo from the cells of a woman in the Republic of Korea. Human cloning seems destined to become a real option in the field of reproductive technology despite the questions it raises about giving humans control over the evolution of their race.

These questions are the current study of bioethicists, or those who examine moral issues that arise in medical treat­ment and research.

Much of the debate among the bioethicists revolves around the probability that one day humans will not only have access to knowledge of their unborn children's genetic code but will also be able to select and even change certain genetic characteristics of their baby.