‘Gene chip’ prenatal tests cause controversy
October 27th, 2008From the Washington Post:
New prenatal tests employing “gene chips” are already in use, identifying more pregnancies with potential problems and raising concerns that test results will increase abortions, while confusing and needlessly alarming many couples.
Some say they “mark another step toward a society that seeks to weed out aberrations in the quest for the perfect child.”
Proponents say the tests can identify abnormal DNA more sensitively than those available previously, allowing parents to alleviate worries or learn about potentially devastating syndromes early enough to terminate the pregnancy or arrange postnatal care.
But critics say the tests have not been thoroughly validated and threaten to produce a flood of murky, misleading results that will subject emotionally vulnerable couples to unnecessary anxiety, perhaps prompting some to abort healthy pregnancies.
Some worry that the technique could be used to hunt for the rapidly growing list of genetic markers that merely signal an increased risk for cancer, diabetes, mental illness, obesity, addiction and other conditions later in life. Someday, similar tests could perhaps even vet fetuses for traits associated with beauty, personality or intelligence.
… Advocates for the disabled worry that doctors and insurance companies will use the results to pressure parents to terminate pregnancies at any sign of potential problems.
“We want disabled children to be welcomed into the world. My fear is we’re moving in the opposite direction,” said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities. “If we decide to use prenatal testing to eliminate gene-based disabilities, that’s what the Nazis were trying to do, in their own crude way. I think we’re saying that certain types of lives aren’t worth living.”
See also: Searching for genetic abnormalities (Washington Post graphic)
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