Dear All
A dear friend sent me the following; IO have no dount that it will be of interest to everyone on this list
Colin (Barnes)
Sunday Times, October 31, 2004
Scientist warns disabled over having children
Brendan Bourne
BRITAIN'S leading geneticist is set to outrage disabled couples by arguing that they should choose not to have children if they know they will be born disabled.
In an interview to be broadcast next month, Sir John Sulston, the Nobel laureate, questions the wisdom of a deaf couple who "deliberately" had a deaf baby.
"I disagree with them. I don't think one ought to bring a clearly disabled child into the world," he says.
Sulston stops short of advocating enforced "eugenics" and believes disabled people's wishes to have children should not be hindered. He does, however, urge them to refrain from parenthood if there is a likelihood the baby would be born impaired.
Sulston tells BBC4: "I would say if we can select children who are not going to be severely disadvantaged then we should do so but I think it has to be done by voluntary choice.
"A number of disabled groups are concerned their kind will somehow be wiped out . . . so we have cases, for example, of a couple who deliberately have a deaf baby because they were deaf."
Sulston, 62, vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission, which advises the government on issues related to genetics, won the 2002 Nobel prize for physiology and medical science for helping identify man's genetic code.
He added last week: "If we can alleviate suffering by any means, that is a good thing. This is one area where we can do so. I would like to do that but it has to be a matter of choice by the parent."
A number of incurable disorders are inherited. They include Huntington's disease, a progressive degenerative neurological condition; Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe muscle wasting condition which often kills sufferers by the age of 20; and cystic fibrosis.
Lord Ashley of Stoke, chairman of the all-party parliamentary disability group, described Sulston's views as "insulting".
"Though Sulston says parental choice is paramount, if this theory is widely respected the views of disabled people would be overridden," said Ashley.
The 81-year-old peer, who is himself deaf, added: "The menace of this kind of view is that it develops and sustains prejudice against disabled people. It is a subtle phenomenon to say they shouldn't be parents, ergo there is something not right with them, ergo let's get rid of them."
The comedian Laurence Clark, who has cerebral palsy, and his disabled wife are expecting their first child next month.
He said: "I struggle to understand the mentality of Sulston, a father of two who disputes the right of another social group to bring children into this world."
"The right to procreate and start a family should not be dictated by the medical profession."
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