Not sure if this is the exact forum for this but i consider this being a political issue as it would need politicians to vote on it.

If you could have your children screened for heart disease, cancers, genetic illnesses, would you? This has already gone on at a small scale but i mean a large scale. Would you accept every parent being able to screen their child, whilst still in the womb or maybe whilst still an embryo in a dish?

Genetic research is seriously coming along to the point where we actually could make the human species resistant to all sorts of horrible diseases. We could make everyone highly resistant to certain forms of cancer, heart disease, dementia and make them have stronger immune systems.

The problem with all this is that people would live longer, which would in turn lead to more and more people on the planet, especially old people, which would lead to strain on the resources we have. Then there is the problem with discrimination as portrayed in the film Gattaca.

Your thoughts?

hmm good thread , it gets you thinking . Initially i think i would say no on a moral basis i don't like the idea of everyone being perfect in a sense. I can see it starting with scanning for down syndrome and the like and then progressing to hair colour , eye colour , height etc etc . i don't fancy a world full of Brad Pitts and Naomi Watts you know. I think the idea of it initially is all good in theory but may the tech may also be used for other controversial areas. i can imagine some countries armed forces wanting to selectively breed super strong and intelligent soldiers and so on.

Gattaca was a really good movie to highlight some of the downsides of this.
Great thread, I will keep track of it.

I wouldnt consider getting myself screened nor would i want my child to be. I think it would be a bad idea if this become socially acceptable. One test that says you are likely to develop some form of cancer or disease will wipe you out of your health insurance, why invest in a risk. You could be screened and discriminated against for future employment.
Having said that if it meant that they could fix whatever is genetacly wrong with me i would be up for that.
So really as long as its kept out of big business and kept in the medical sector under the hippocratic oath, id maybe be for that.


[edit on 31-3-2009 by pazcat]