Book contents
- Creating Human Nature
- Creating Human Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Political Bioethics of Regulating Genetic Engineering
- Part II The Political Dimensions of Engineering Intelligence
- Part III Inequality as an Unintended Consequence Locally and as a Planetary Phenomenon
- 8 A Human Right to Freedom from Genetic Disability
- 9 Deploying Epigenetics to Identify Biologically Influenced Social Inequalities
- 10 Genetic Engineering as a Technology of the Anthropocene
- Coda
- References
- Index
8 - A Human Right to Freedom from Genetic Disability
from Part III - Inequality as an Unintended Consequence Locally and as a Planetary Phenomenon
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2022
- Creating Human Nature
- Creating Human Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Political Bioethics of Regulating Genetic Engineering
- Part II The Political Dimensions of Engineering Intelligence
- Part III Inequality as an Unintended Consequence Locally and as a Planetary Phenomenon
- 8 A Human Right to Freedom from Genetic Disability
- 9 Deploying Epigenetics to Identify Biologically Influenced Social Inequalities
- 10 Genetic Engineering as a Technology of the Anthropocene
- Coda
- References
- Index
Summary
Genetic selection is one means of pursuing the well-being of future persons. Scientists in the 1970s developed prenatal genetic testing with ultrasound-guided amniocentesis. In 1990 they introduced pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for use with in vitro fertilization. In 2011 they developed noninvasive prenatal testing, which tests fetal DNA from maternal blood samples drawn at eight weeks. Prenatal screening analyzes the genetic makeup of a fetus, and embryo screening analyzes the embryo’s genetic characteristics. Analysis in the first case allows parents to decide whether to continue a pregnancy; in the second, whether to initiate a pregnancy through in vitro fertilization with an embryo selected for genes of interest. Both are forms of genetic selection. This chapter analyzes the screening of embryos for genetic features that indicate possible disabilities in the future person.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Creating Human NatureThe Political Challenges of Genetic Engineering, pp. 159 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022