My interest in world population issues recently led me to John Taves. He runs Pacific Northwest Software and PickATime.com, but he’s also consumed with solving the world’s population problem. He is an example of the famous Margaret Mead quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Continue reading “The “StopAtTwo” solution to the population problem” »
In addition to what I talked about in the last post, 3-parent IVF, there is another controversial procedure that enables “would-be parents to select the sex of a child with almost 100 per cent certainty through a technique called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). Also known as “Family Balancing,” it can be part of the IVF process. How does it work? Like ”regular” IVF, the woman is given big time hormones to produce several eggs. Then the eggs are taken out and mixed with the partner’s sperm. After three days… …the embryos are tested and scientists analyse chromosomes to identify the sex. Then only the embryos of the right sex are put back in the womb. Analyzing the chromosomes is supposed to be very accurate–99%, and if the woman gets pregnant with this procedure “will almost certainly have a baby of the desired sex.”
The procedure is legal is most U.S. states, Russia and the Middle East, but not everywhere, such as Great Britain, which sees problems with how this kind of IVF will “facilitate discriminatory social engineering”–or said another way, will be a step towards a future of designer babies.
On one hand I do see logic in something like this, as to not encourage parents to keep having more children until the parents get the sex they want. However, I have to oppose it when I think of the larger picture of condoning designer babies and ultimately human cloning.
Say what happens if PGD becomes the rage with celebs and a new trend is set that blond babies are in? Green eyes are in? Tall babies are in? Only babies of a specific skin tone? What if certain factions wanted to work toward a 2 to 1 ratio of men to women or women to men for their own crazy reasons?
Or not so crazy reasons. Look at China, which has already created a disproportionate distribution of gender without PGD IVF. Their one child policy and cultural disposition for boys (which has resulted in who knows how many forced abortions and female infanticide) has led to a disproportionate number of boys/young men/men, such that by ”2020 there will be 24 million more men than women” in this country. Good luck to the guys in finding mates with these kinds of numbers!
I land at feeling that if society allows for this kind of thing, and 3-parent IVF it will ultimately open the door to starting to control for all sorts of stuff in babies…ending with human cloning. Like a woman who commented on my facebook page, this has ”far too much potential for abuse. ” She also wisely says–”Do I understand people wanting to use that to have healthy children? Sure! But designer babies? No. You should be joyful about any child you get if you desire to be a parent.”
What do you think?
How do you think Charles Darwin, the man behind the theory of evolution, would understand those who do not have children by choice? Wouldn’t a Darwinist say as humans we are wired to feel compelled to reproduce–to continue the species?
I went to James Lull, Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies and childless by choice Darwin scholar… Continue reading “Darwin & the Childfree Evolution” »
I have to admit that I have mixed reactions when reading about 85 years old professor Robert Edwards at the University of Cambridge receiving the Nobel Prize in medicine.
He began work on in vitro fertilization, or IVF in the late 70s, and as the Nobel committee says, he was “persistent and unperturbed in fulfilling his scientific vision,” and today, the odds of a couple having a baby after a single cycle of IVF treatment are about 1 in 5, roughly the same odds as a fertile couple trying to have children naturally…For millions of families, it created the possibility of a truly joyful and extraordinary event.”
I understand that successful IVF is huge for those who desperately want their own biological child. At the same time, this achievement has helped …
Continue reading “Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to test tube baby pioneer” »
