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Does Reproductive Technology Concern You?

Daniel

Is anyone else concerned scientists are going to continue eugenics to more than babies who will be born with Down syndrome?

Bioethicists are debating whether any disabled person has the right to be born. Personally, I find it insulting scientists think disabled people's rights are something to argue about. It should be immediately "No" to the claim disabled people are not entitled to equal rights. Some of them are even saying our lives have no worth that we shouldn't be allowed to be in this world.

I've seen clinical websites saying reproductive technology is a "Great Hope" for preventing autistic people and people diagnosed ADHD coming into the world. There's already significant evidence medical science has become a field of discrimination and hatred and is no longer about health or healing. So many medical scientists have already become neo-*** designing genocide programmes against disabled people. 

These bioethicists and medical "professionals" claiming we have no place in this world, and that we do not deserve to be protected from discrimination has made me write a book to prove we are not the problem, but their attitude towards us and the economy is the problem.

Does anyone know how I can publicly debate the eugenicists? Genome reading, giving everyone a 'Genetic Identity' opens a whole new realm of cultural prejudice and discrimination.

Parents

  • I spent most of my career as a 'genetic engineer' working on tropical diseases, please do not 'other' scientists, or disparage them as a whole. I worked on diseases that kill 500,000 people (mostly children) a year in the poorest nations on Earth. I could have earned far more working in industry and on First World diseases, but chose to devote myself to helping the most vulnerable.

    There is actually a very great overlap between common autism-linked genetic alleles and alleles for high academic attainment. There is even a scientific paper called Autism as a disorder of high intelligence (BJ Crespi - Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2016). Weeding out traits for high intelligence would be like the whole of humanity shooting itself in the foot, or head. I think scare stories of eugenicists weeding out autism-linked genes is looking at an unlikely occurrence. Looking for large-scale genetic changes, often de novo (i.e. not hereditary), that are linked to certain uncommon forms of autism with very serious co-morbidities, is more likely, but still difficult and expensive to achieve. 

  • in reply to Martin

    Hearing things like that from people who understand genetics is fascinating. I can understand how you might feel, given your experience and the sacrifice you have made. I am not knowledgeable about genetics, but I have recently got more interested in the human genome and reading about how admixing between our human ancestors, such as Denisovans and Neanderthals may have influenced our susceptibility to modern ailments such as influenza and the common cold. 

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I did a commercial ancestry DNA test and I have 242 Neanderthal variants, mostly single nucleotide polymorphisms. I have about an average number for a European. One makes me a better sprinter than distance runner and another means I do not get angry when hungry. They are scattered throughout my chromosomes, except the X and Y, which is universal for modern humans, no Neanderthal sex chromosomal DNA has survived.

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  • in reply to ArchaeC

    I did a commercial ancestry DNA test and I have 242 Neanderthal variants, mostly single nucleotide polymorphisms. I have about an average number for a European. One makes me a better sprinter than distance runner and another means I do not get angry when hungry. They are scattered throughout my chromosomes, except the X and Y, which is universal for modern humans, no Neanderthal sex chromosomal DNA has survived.

Children
  • in reply to Martin

    I had a look at the various DNA Test companies available and have taken the plunge with 23 and Me. Things have progressed considerably since I last looked years ago. Back then, the databases were smaller and the genetic information available from a DNA test was so small that for me, they mightn’t have added much to what I wanted. 

    You mentioned your relative Ötzi. Do you think it is wise to name him on this public forum, given that I met him two years ago? 

  • in reply to Martin

    That is remarkable. I didn’t know DNA tests that could pick up Neanderthal variants were available commercially. I haven't yet had any DNA test to detect ancestry but hearing about yours has made me want to find out more. I expect I will have about an average number of Neanderthal variants too, but it would be terrific to see this in print! 

    I have had hospital genetic testing to detect known familial cancer genes because a relatively high number of family members and I have had cancer. I’m fully recovered and forever grateful that the science exists and is progressing to help future generations.