Designer babies (not autistic ones)
A team of doctors at University College Hospital in London want to develop a test to screen for autism in male embryos for couples with a family history of autism. An article in the June 18th Times Online reports: 
The technique, called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), has been used to create babies free from life-threatening illnesses such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and haemophilia.However, screening embryos to prevent babies being born with autism would prove controversial because children born with the disorder can live long and healthy lives. Critics claim the treatment would be a step closer to creating babies free from all imperfections.
The team at University College Hospital’s assisted conception unit in London decided to apply for a licence for the procedure after they were approached by a couple with a history of autism in the family.
Joy Delhanty, professor of human genetics at University College London medical school, said couples would undergo the treatment only if autism had inflicted severe suffering on the family.
This is not just the specter of a prenatal genetic test for autism.
It appears to be the real thing.
The Times Online article quotes Simone Aspis, parliamentary and campaigns worker for the British Council of Disabled People,
“Screening out autism would breed a fear that anyone who is different in any way will not be accepted. Screening for autism would create a society where only perfection is valued.”
I know that I would be “severely suffering” without my lovely, “imperfect” to some but perfect to me, boy named Charlie—-and I believe the world would be more than severely lacking without him, and so many other autistic persons, too.
I don’t think our society is ready to make this kind of “choice.”
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POSTED IN: Disability Rights, Genetics, Treatment
8 opinions for Designer babies (not autistic ones)
mike stanton
Jun 18, 2006 at 5:24 am
Hi Kristina
I have just written about this on my blog and am contacting the Human Genetics Commission to express my concern.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 18, 2006 at 5:57 am
I was rather aghast to read about this last night.
Autism Vox » Autism Fathers and Autistic Pride
Jun 28, 2006 at 11:18 am
[…] I find it more than ironic that, this being both Father’s Day and National Autistic Pride Day, my previous post was about a prenatal test to screen for autism embryos. On the very day on which we are celebrating fathers and autistic persons, we learn about a test whose purpose is to make it possible not to be an autism parent. […]
Autism Vox » Genetic Counseling and Autism
Nov 9, 2006 at 9:25 pm
[…] The Southern Health Magazine article attempts to “explode the myths” concerning genetic testing and abortion. This particular topic has made pre-natal genetic testing a fighting word in discussions about autism, among autistics and the parents of autistic children in particular. The Southern Health Magazine article quotes a number of medical professionals in considering these issues. “Often parents-to-be decline genetic testing thinking they are invincible or that we will ask them to abort,” says Reddy. “Both reasons are wrong and I cannot stress that enough.” […]
Autism Vox » “It has never been a better time to have autism”
Jan 1, 2007 at 1:21 am
[…] And on the other hand, the very science and scientific advances that Baron-Cohen lauds carry with them the possibility of something like a prenatal genetic test for autism, or a blood test for autism in infants. Might such tests not portend an “end”—a “cure“—for autism if expecting parents decide not to have an autistic child who would be eugenically aborted? […]
Autism Vox » Procreative Beneficience, PGD, and the Selecting of the “Best” Children
Jan 6, 2007 at 11:44 pm
[…] Back in June, I posted about a test to screen male embryos for couples with families with a history of autism; a team at the University College Hospital’s assisted conception unit in London has applied for a license for the procedure. I quote from my post, whose title was Designer babies (not autistic ones); my sentiments about PGD and autism remain the same. This is not just the specter of a prenatal genetic test for autism. […]
Autism Vox
Jan 9, 2007 at 1:00 pm
[…] Back in June, I posted about a test to screen male embryos for couples with families with a history of autism; a team at the University College Hospital’s assisted conception unit in London has applied for a license for the procedure. I quote from my post, whose title was Designer babies (not autistic ones); my sentiments about PGD and autism remain the same. This is not just the specter of a prenatal genetic test for autism. […]
Gender Selection and Prenatal Genetic Testing
Feb 27, 2008 at 5:04 pm
[…] diagnosed in boys at a much higher rate than in girls—announced that they hoped to develop a test to screen for autism in male embryos for couples with a family history of autism. The test would use Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis […]
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