Inequality and Human Genetics
By Richard Hayes,
The New York Times
| 09. 16. 2008
[Letter to the editor]
David Frum correctly acknowledges that income inequality in the United States has been growing steadily and that the use of genetic technology by the affluent to enhance the "intelligence, health, beauty and strength" of their offspring would exacerbate this trend. But his suggestion that this challenge could be addressed by somehow ensuring that all have access to such technology is woefully misguided. The advent of these technologies would spark a techno-eugenic rat race impossible to constrain absent some system of authoritarian, allocative control. It would fundamentally change the way people regard their children and one another and undermine the integrity of the common human nature that sustains all human values, beliefs and institutions. The genetic modification of our children is a practice that conservatives and liberals alike should be able to agree poses far more risks than benefits, and should be taken off the table as an option.
Richard Hayes
Executive Director
Center for Genetics and Society
Oakland, Calif.
Related Articles
By Ian Sample, The Guardian | 07.04.2024
Biological models of human embryos that can develop heartbeats, spinal cords and other distinctive features will be governed by a code of practice in Britain to ensure that researchers work on them responsibly.
Made from stem cells, they mimic, to...
By Kevin Davies, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.27.2024
Physician-scientist Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD, has been a mainstay in the genome editing field for more than two decades. He trained at Stanford University Medical School before completing his residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute...
By Peter Aldhous, Scientific American | 07.02.2024
In June a notice posted on the website of the journal Nature set a new scientific record. It withdrew what is now the most highly cited research paper ever to be retracted.
The study, published in 2002 by Catherine Verfaillie...
By Robert F. Service, Science | 07.04.2024
Image by Ed Uthman from Flickr
Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapy procedures that can treat and, in some cases essentially cure sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that causes pain and...