Design your baby
I created a series of assignments that I call "Science on Trial", whereby I try to engage my science for non-majors class in the ethical, legal, public policy implications of a hypothetical scientific or medical scenario. One-third of the class acts as a prosecuting body, one-third as the defense, and the remaining third as the jury. Roles rotate with each assignment. Three members of the prosecution and defense must argue their case before the jury, with support from their team on the side-lines. Both sides have a chance to object, and rebut arguments and whole-heartedly yell at each other. The side that wins earns substantial extra credit for their team.
The question is whether or not the couple described in the summary below should be allowed to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis on their in-vitro fertilized embryos to select for specific traits, including gender and sex, as well as select against disease traits.
If you have the time and interest, read some of the linked information and give me your opinion on whether the Smiths should be allowed to go forward with their IVF treatment and pregnancy. Base your opinion on the facts, or base it on emotional reasoning but give me details. I'll tell you in a day or two how my class decided and why.
Summary:
Mark and Samantha Smith are a married couple in their mid-forties. Their only child, Regina, died six months ago in a car accident on her sixteenth birthday. The Smiths both come from single child parents, with limited extended family. After the death of their daughter, they have decided to conceive another child using in vitro fertilization. In vitro fertilization is necessary because of Samantha's age, and because the couple wishes to screen and select embryos that are specific for certain traits and exclude certain genes and characteristics. After successful implantation and pregnancy, all of the remaining embryos will be destroyed.
Inclusion
Rejection
bey 1, 2, 3 genes .. blue eye allele
bey 1, 2 genes .. brown eye allele
Normal BRCA1 gene
BRCA1 mutation
Normal length hSERT genes
"short" genes
Normal CFTR
Single or double CFTR mutation
XX chromosomes
XY chromosomes
Normal chromosome 21
Trisomy 21
Questions to be addressed during trial:
Ethical: What are general ethical implications of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis? What are the specific ethical implications of this case?
Medical: Research the bey, BRCA1, and CFTR genes and chromosomes 21, and XY and find out what they do. What would happen to embryos that inherit the genes on the rejection list if they were allowed to develop?
Public Policy: If every parent had the monetary ability to have IVF and PGD, with a range of possible choices to diagnose diseases, personality, or physical characteristics, what are the potential implications for society?