Saturday, December 20, 2008

But at what cost...


So it's a cancer free baby for Christmas is it?

Sounds wonderful on the face of it, right? Well, what's actually happened is that embryos with the gene for this type of breast cancer have been discarded and this one, free from the gene, has been kept. So, when the mother says, "We are eliminating the gene from our line." she is actually describing the elimination of a line of family. That's people, folks. The message being sent here is that if you are going to suffer breast cancer then it is better that you, as a person, never even existed.

An obvious question is begged but it's not new. "Screening" is available for more and more conditions - how many of us would not have made it through the genetic sieve due to a propensity towards a certain type of disease or illness? Are we seriously going to say that a life involving disease is a life worth nothing?

I find all of this very unsettling.

The pursuit of perfection is understandable but, at what cost?


2 comments:

Kay said...

Hey Mark, you don't seem to be on here for a while, but I AM DOING MY FIRST TRIATHLON on May 4th. Star wars joke opportunity. Rob has been talking about bras with his female PE fit colleagues and has come home with the ideas on what I should wear. If you read my blog you will find out all about it any my astonishing finishing times which will make Paula Radcliffe look like a tortoise. Kayxx

Mark Robins said...

Hey Kay, sure it's not the 3rd? New Forest?