Designer babies (not autistic ones)
June 17, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
A team of doctors at University College Hospital in London want to develop a test to screen for autism in male embryos for couples with a family history of autism. An article in the June 18th Times Online reports: 
The technique, called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), has been used to create babies free from life-threatening illnesses such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and haemophilia.However, screening embryos to prevent babies being born with autism would prove controversial because children born with the disorder can live long and healthy lives. Critics claim the treatment would be a step closer to creating babies free from all imperfections.
The team at University College Hospital’s assisted conception unit in London decided to apply for a licence for the procedure after they were approached by a couple with a history of autism in the family.
Joy Delhanty, professor of human genetics at University College London medical school, said couples would undergo the treatment only if autism had inflicted severe suffering on the family.
This is not just the specter of a prenatal genetic test for autism.
It appears to be the real thing.
The Times Online article quotes Simone Aspis, parliamentary and campaigns worker for the British Council of Disabled People,
“Screening out autism would breed a fear that anyone who is different in any way will not be accepted. Screening for autism would create a society where only perfection is valued.”
I know that I would be “severely suffering” without my lovely, “imperfect” to some but perfect to me, boy named Charlie—-and I believe the world would be more than severely lacking without him, and so many other autistic persons, too.
I don’t think our society is ready to make this kind of “choice.”
Hi Kristina
I have just written about this on my blog and am contacting the Human Genetics Commission to express my concern.
I was rather aghast to read about this last night.