Half In UK Back Genome Editing To Prevent Severe Diseases (theguardian.com) 30
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: More than half the UK backs the idea of rewriting the DNA of human embryos to prevent severe or life-threatening diseases, according to a survey. Commissioned by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), a fertility and genomics charity, the Ipsos poll found that 53% of people support the use of human genome editing to prevent children from developing serious conditions such as cystic fibrosis.
There was less enthusiasm for use of the procedure to prevent milder conditions such as asthma, with only 36% in favor, and to create designer babies, with only a fifth expressing support, but views on the technology differed dramatically with age. Younger generations were far more in favor of designer babies than older people, with 38% of 16- to 24-year-olds and 31% of 25- to 34-year-olds supporting the use of gene editing to allow parents to choose features such as their child's height and eye and hair color. In the UK and many other countries it is illegal to perform genome editing on embryos that are intended for pregnancies, but the restrictions could be lifted if research shows the procedure can safely prevent severe diseases.
There was less enthusiasm for use of the procedure to prevent milder conditions such as asthma, with only 36% in favor, and to create designer babies, with only a fifth expressing support, but views on the technology differed dramatically with age. Younger generations were far more in favor of designer babies than older people, with 38% of 16- to 24-year-olds and 31% of 25- to 34-year-olds supporting the use of gene editing to allow parents to choose features such as their child's height and eye and hair color. In the UK and many other countries it is illegal to perform genome editing on embryos that are intended for pregnancies, but the restrictions could be lifted if research shows the procedure can safely prevent severe diseases.
Wow (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
That's up 0% from 13 and a half hours ago [slashdot.org]!
At this rate it will be up 0% by this time next year!
Oh Lord. (Score:2)
--
Lord, help my poor soul. - Allan Poe
So Now It's 100% approval... (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
..since 13 hours ago it was 50%..I must assume that this story says that the remaining 50% now approve. I mean, Slashdot would NEVER re-run the same story twice, right?!
Sir, this is slashdot. If it’s not low information third party scrapes of legitimate news served two days late and duped, I demand my money back.
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Sir, this is slashdot. If it’s not low information third party scrapes of legitimate comments served two days late and duped, I demand my money back.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
..since 13 hours ago it was 50%..I must assume that this story says that the remaining 50% now approve. I mean, Slashdot would NEVER re-run the same story twice, right?!
This isn't the same article, it's the article minus the gene responsible for 70's rock.
nice... (Score:2, Interesting)
I even modded this as a dupe, and the submission is not even on the firehose anymore, but it still was reposted...
Re:nice... (Score:4, Funny)
I even modded this as a dupe, and the submission is not even on the firehose anymore, but it still was reposted...
Maybe someone said “I’ll replace your job with a short Perl script” and followed through.
Re: nice... (Score:2)
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They should have used bash.
They tried, but the program written to write in bash had been written in powershell, so...
But not the food (Score:3)
Focus On More Important Problems First (Score:2)
Like those portions of North and East London that are flushing polio-laden p00p down the Carsey.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61896411
https://news.sky.com/story/traces-of-polio-virus-found-in-london-sewage-as-health-officials-declare-national-incident-12638443
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/polio-detection-of-vdpv2-in-london-sewage-samples
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Focus On More Important Problems First (Score:2)
Msmash told us yesterday (Score:3)
BeauHD should be genetically modified to read ALL TFA before posting his crap.
Gattaca (Score:2)
I think they tried this before and it ended up something like Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russiaâ¦
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Maybe, but one day it will give us cute and sexy catgirls, so I say we must continue!
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huh (Score:2)
but views on the technology differed dramatically with age. Younger generations were far more in favor of designer babies than older people, with 38% of 16- to 24-year-olds and 31% of 25- to 34-year-olds supporting the use of gene editing to allow parents to choose features such as their child's height and eye and hair color.
As always, that can be interpreted two ways:
"You old Luddites will be replace by The Future(tm)!"
or
"With age comes wisdom ... at least sometimes ... and you'd see the same opinion splits for age in 20 years, 40 years ... "
KHHHHAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!! (Score:2)
So Gene Roddenberry was off in "Space Seed" by only about 50-100 years when predicting the rise of the genetic super being and the Eugenics Wars.
This is a slippery slope. Would it be nice if we could eliminate some very debilitating conditions? Sure... but as we can see, younger people are the danger when it comes to the "designer babies." How soon before choosing things like height, weight, and other such characteristics turns into also editing for intelligence, strength, and other things that would ca
Re: (Score:2)
Or, how long until we see a wave of seven and a half foot tall 14 year old boys, built like bodybuilders? Who all subsequently die of heart conditions by their mid-twenties because tweaking factors like height and musculature is easy compared to redesigning the human body to actually be able to sustain the changes.
Not that big a thing (Score:1)
I understand that the 'designer babies' makes for good headlines but I feel the concern about them is a bit overblown. Gene editing to cure genetic diseases is only possible if you know exactly which genes you have to edit. This is known for many diseases. However there is no such thing as 'intelligence gene' or 'beauty gene'. Our understanding of human genetics is nowhere near enough for genetic-engineering beautiful or intelligent babies. The best way to have designer babies is still to have sex with some
Whoopsie (Score:2)
"Sorry, we didn't mean to create a new human sub species of cannibalistic criminal superpredators."
Re: Whoopsie (Score:2)
I fear 2024. It's highly unlikely Trump would run again given the 1/6/2021 panel and all, but the way the Republican party has been taken over by facists, we may end up with someone who is much much worse. We could very well have a defacto dictator running America by 2028. =\
Reality vs. fantasy fears, and wealthy foibles (Score:2)
At a recent con, I ran into someone who when I brought genengineering, went into a rant about "look at the people here" (in the con suite), and "who determines what's normal" (he had a stomach, and had not felt he could do a ST costume until "Below Decks").
He ran on for a minute or two, then stormed out, not giving me any chance to respond. You know, such as "so you think folks should develop diabetes or other genetic diseases, or gain weight due to their own metabolism to the point that they need scooters,
Don't draw a line (Score:2)
Since I missed the original posting, I'll say it here: yes, asthma is a "milder condition than cystic fibrosis", but I've seen just how bad it can absolutely fuck your life up in friends etc.
Remember back when Bush Jr allowed "Enhanced Interrogation" at Gitmo? Journos from a few of the news channels volunteered to be waterboarded to show to how it "Totally isn't torture". Guess what: they changed their minds about in 3 seconds, because it is.
That's what I'm given to understand a bad asthma attack is like.
Al