Genetic Modification, Good Or Bad?

Is removing deafness via genetic modification a good thing from the perspective of deaf people?

  • Total voters
    6
Cappy said:
When the cat is away, the mice go on a beer run.
Anyone else have a good one?
When the cat is away the mice, _____ (fill in the blank)
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When the cat is away the mice change all the locks on the doors !
 
When the cat is away, the mice replaces the catnip with parsley.
 
There's over a hundred genes associated with deafness, and people have been weeding out deaf embryos for 15 years at least. We're still some ways from being able to toss out every form of congenital deafness through IVF. I've read of a couple who both carried a gene for deafness but neither had hearing loss themselves, and they didn't want a deaf child. They had one embryo without the deaf gene that both parents had, a bunch that had one copy and thus were carriers, and a couple that would have been born deaf. They discarded the deaf embryos and ended up implanting all the others but none took. Is it so wrong that a hearing couple want a hearing child? Or is that a terrible thing to want? Many Deaf would like to have Deaf kids if they had a choice.

On top of that, there are far fewer people doing IVF than having babies the regular way. Until IVF gets cheaper and easier and more successful, there's going to be a small population of people dealing with genetic deafness. Is the number high enough to worry about?
 
You can take a perfectly perfect gene, egg, sperm, embryo and at birth it will still become deaf due to virus, bacteria, infections and other factors. There is NO sure fire fool proof way to do it period.... quit playing god.
 
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