Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis

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Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis

"Please make sure that our little one has blond hair and blue eyes, "

and "I want him to be a good athlete and very intellectual."

"Oh, and doc, make him disease free please."

"Is that all?"

"You two aren’t very particular are you?

" This will be an easy case."

"We will continue with the implantation in two days."

With the enormous advancement of Technology in many areas of Genetic Diagnosis, parents and doctors seem to defy Mother Nature and maybe even God every day. An example of this phenomenon is Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis. Do the advantages this technology brings outweigh the disadvantages? Who should be final authority? Will the advancement of Pre-Implantation technology start a new wave of genetic manipulation in in-vitro fertilization?

Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PID, PGD) involves the removal and testing of a single cell from the embryo (zona or blastocyst…a collection of 7-10 cells)3, after in-vitro fertilization (IVF), for the possibility of genetic disorder transmission from parent to child. This procedure is called micromanipulation. If the genetic material may cause a genetic disorder it is discarded and the others returned. In essence, the procedure is " intended to weed out genetically defective embryos before they have a chance to develop".3 More specifically, the woman is induced through medication to ovulate in high quantity and the eggs are collected. Next, standard IVF takes place. Three days later, each embryo contains about eight cells and is ready to be biopsied. A micromanipulator holds the zona in place along with a holding pipette. Then another pipette drills through the shell using ...

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... reason why we feel a need to genetically alter what God has made and intended as well. These questions seem to pose more significant questions that need answers more so than the need for IVF and PID procedures and their advancements.

References

1. http://www.medicalcenter.gwu.edu

2. http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/progects/stem/reprot.pdf

3. http://www.religious tolerance.orglabo_pgd.htm

4. http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/About_NHGRI/Dir/Ethics/pre.html

National Human Genome Research Inst. General Ethics Consortium Case Literature

5. http://www.hygeia.org/poems5.htm

Yale Iniversity School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynechology M.D. PhD.

6. http://www.biol:tsukuba.ac.jp/~macer/EJ71D.html

Germany use of Pre-Implantation Genectic Diagnosis : Research Centre Biotechnology and Law University of Lueneburg, German

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