A geneticist and social scientist debate if we should edit the genomes of human embryos

Felicity Boardman: The birth of a child with genetic disease is generally an unexpected event. The parents of these children typically won’t have a family history with the condition, or even be aware that they are genetic “carriers”: that they can transmit a genetic condition to their offspring, but do not have it themselves. Indeed, there are currently only two carrier screening programs active in the UK that are implemented during pregnancy (one for for thalassaemia, and the other for sickle cell trait). So for most parents, discovering the condition in their family occurs through their child’s diagnosis, either through the…

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https://ift.tt/2DTPUxY The Conversation October 03, 2018 at 06:00AM