Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1161
Heart Disease athletic ability Intelligence "no conditions for which genetic testing should never be offered" Cancer 55% 15% 10% 50% 53% on for at least two decades – the debate about PGD-based gender selection, a technique that is easier than trait selection and has already been done thousands of times. Back in 1990, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of any type was banned in Germany by the embryo Protection Act. In 2003, the uK banned using PGD for gender selection, following a year-long public consultation in which about 80% of those polled were against the procedure. India and China have banned the procedure, despite the widespread practice of infanticide when babies of an undesired gender, usually female, are born to disappointed parents. Gender selection still occurs, albeit violently. more recently, a January 2009 study by researchers at NYu Langone medical Center found that an overwhelming 75% of parents would be in favor of trait selection using PGD – as long as that trait is the absence of mental retardation. A further 54% would screen their embryos for deafness, 56% for blindness, 52% for a propensity to heart disease, and 51% for a propensity to cancer. Only 10% would be willing to select embryos for better athletic ability, and 12.6% would select for greater intelligence. 52.2% of respondents said that there were no conditions for which genetic testing should never be offered, indicating widespread support for PGD – as long as it's for averting disease and not engineering human enhancement. Trait selection using PGD is too new – and unproven – for there to be regulatory laws in most developed countries. But many fi ghters in the battle for or against PGD for trait selection and genetic disease screening believe that today is the decision point that will set the precedent for future regulation (or lack thereof) in the area. On may 21, 2008, the us Congress passed the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act. According to the statement of Administration Policy associated with the Act, it "prohibit[s] group health plans and health insurers from denying coverage to a healthy individual or charging that person higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to developing a disease in the future. The legislation also would bar employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, fi ring, job placement, or promotion decisions. The Administration appreciates that the House bill clarifi es that the bill's protections cover unborn children." In the oft-cited movie Gattaca, a non-genetically-selected man with a heart problem in a trait-selected world must hide