Gene-editing breakthrough could spell end of hereditary disease

originally posted by: Timely
a reply to: trollz

I saw this on the nightly news.

Scary part is it leads the way to designer babies ...

That is flying in the face of natural selection and population control.

So now we are the "new" god/creator ?

We do not have the disposition to be such .

I think we are already there. My husband and I went to a fertility specialist. We were looking to have another baby but I am 40 so... It seemed like a good idea.

When I explained that I am a carrier for cystic fibrosis and that I have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. She stared at me in disbelief for a second, and said "Really?!" Now, I live in Montana. There aren't a lot of Jewish people here, and the ones that are here usually have the good sense to be quiet. Further, my Ashkenazi heritage has been mixed with a few other weird things so my ethnicity is hard to pin down by looking at me. I explained that my grandfather was fully Czech with both his parents immigrating from that country and he seemed to have kept his ethnic and religious background hidden. We wouldn't have known at all without genetic testing (although there were some cultural clues). I gave her a quick run down of this situation and she then exclaimed in dismay "Oh no! Ashkenazi's have every nasty recessive known to man!" She recommended the usual blood test and rather hastily got us out of the office after that.

When my test results came back my values were so low I am considered infertile; I have the fertility of a 50-60 year old woman. I've had two children. Late life children run in the women in my family. I still have a regular period and for some reason when her nurse called me she thought I had had my tubes tied, I hadn't, and further, she was surprised that I have a period at all, she seemed to think that was impossible considering the hormones. While it is certainly possible that I really am infertile, in conjunction with the doctors rather unprofessional dismay at my genetic, ah... Jewishness it just seems... strange.

My husband had a vasectomy so we need a fertility specialist to get pregnant and they are the only ones in the state, so I'm kind of stuck for it. The road that they recommended for us to get pregnant--the "aggressive" fertility treatment that was expensive with massive side effects and all of the "essential" genetic testing we would need because of my heritage would have run us in excess of 80 grand, if it took the first time, which, I was warned over and over it probably wouldn't.

Yes the post above. We're darn near already there. In fact, mothers have long aborted their baby if it has signs of DS or other severe abnormality. And in life abnormals are often treated unfairly. Usually we justify this treatment because abnormals are judged inferior. I might argue innate insecurities cause us to go even further and harm them, as though they're the scapegoat--the cause--for everything wrong in the world. This might be similar to burning witches or exiling people who acted or looked strange.

Immediately when I read the OP I thought "Monsanto". Ridding our children of genetic malfunction will someday be as common as genetically modified fruits or vegetables. In fact, I think it'll be more common eventually. There'll be almost no reason to decline it, like there's nearly no reason to decline vaccines. Those who do decline, will be limited in number.

We're coming to a time when most of our planet Earth will be managed. This is no surprise, why should it be. We see the evidence all around us right now. Just magnify it to fill most every gap.

I don't say any of this offhand or casually. There's no exaggeration.

Logically, err rationally, I can't argue against it. But I think many of us who come to ATS have a natural skepticism or distrust of authorit. Distrust does not equal outright rejection or opposition. We'll get our vaccination or whatever it's we're told to eventually, but we'll always have doubt in the back of our mind, wondering if it's right. Some people say we're crazy to have doubt or distrust. I agree sometimes it's irrational or neuroatypical.

Isn't this how I am legend starts out?

Whether one is pro or con on this issue, its going to happen. Trchnology shapes us far more than we shape technology.

What could possibly go wrong?

Alternatively, welcome to A Brave New World

but will the pharnacutical companies allow this?, because that would cut down on their profits.

For some reason I sense mad scientists with this gene editing. If you fix one gene, often companion variences on other genes are linked to that bad gene and correct or resteer the cells to do things. If you fix one part, the gene corrections may wind up causing another problem. It will take a lot more research before they can utilize something like this correctly, they are jumping the gun, it will be years before enough information is collected and analyzed.

But of course, they want to get there first, the patient is secondary to their desire for fame. They will blame it on the patient.

originally posted by: Timely
a reply to: trollz

I saw this on the nightly news.

Scary part is it leads the way to designer babies ...

That is flying in the face of natural selection and population control.

So now we are the "new" god/creator ?

We do not have the disposition to be such .

Modern medicine flies in the face of natural selection and population control. The reason there's so many of us now, is because we live longer to breed more.

Advancements like this will also help in allowing us to make our bodies more resistant to the stresses of space travel.