A similar article appeared in the Sunday Times last Sunday. Reproduced below.
The only good thing about Bob Edwards' offensively eugenic comments on
disabled people is that they bring into the open part of the hidden agenda
of the new genetics, an agenda which speaks loudly about improved health
but whose key subtext is the sinister ideal of improving the human race.
His advocacy of genetic cleansing takes as back to the Third Reich. There
too disabled people were only the first to be eliminated.
Although this has been mentioned before, the BCODP has produced a
discussion paper on the new genetics
http://www.bcodp.org.uk/general/genetics.html which should be of interest
to those on this list.
July 4 1999 BRITAIN
©
Test-tube revolution: Edwards with his 2,500th IVF baby Photograph: Dave
Gaywod
Having disabled babies will be 'sin', says scientist
by Lois Rogers
Medical Correspondent
THE scientist who created Britain's first test-tube baby has said it will
soon be a "sin" for parents to give birth to disabled children.
Bob Edwards, the world-renowned embryologist who worked with the late
Patrick Steptoe to produce Louise Brown by in-vitro fertilisation in 1978,
said the increasing availability of pre-natal screening for genetic disease
gave parents a moral responsibility not to give birth to disabled children.
Edwards, speaking at an international fertility conference, said that he
welcomed the dawn of an age in which every child would be wanted and
genetically acceptable.
"Soon it will be a sin of parents to have a child that carries the heavy
burden of genetic disease. We are entering a world where we have to
consider the quality of our children."
He believes people should not recoil from the inevitability of fertility
treatment and screening becoming a tool of social engineering. He said
treatment would be sought not just by the infertile but by couples who
wished to have children free of genetic illness. New diagnostic techniques
already enable the screening of embryos before they are put into their host
mother.
The process is used on all embryos in some American clinics to screen out
specific genetic defects. As more genes are identified, it will be possible
to perform more sophisticated tests on embryos.
Edwards was speaking at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human
Reproduction and Embryology in France, as doctors in Britain finalise
proposals for the first comprehensive national screening programme for
Down's syndrome in all unborn babies. Their report is to be presented to
ministers in the next few weeks and it is expected the programme will begin
next year.
Campaigners for families of handicapped children and some doctors believe
Edwards's comments reflect the views of most British doctors, and that
women will be increasingly pressed into agreeing to the termination of
affected pregnancies.
One obstetrician, who declined to be identified, said: "There is a fear
that we are moving towards eugenics. It is extremely common for women to be
offered terminations for abnormality, but counselling about it is pretty
hit and miss."
More than three-quarters of pregnant women are already offered screening
and given the choice to abort a baby carrying Down's syndrome or spina
bifida. Some hospitals even offer to abort foetuses with defects that can
be corrected, such as cleft palate.
The NHS is also considering a national screening programme for cystic
fibrosis, with pregnant women offered a mouthwash for genetic diagnosis of
cells from the inside of the cheek to find whether they are carriers of the
CF gene. Other conditions such as fragile X syndrome, which causes mental
retardation in one in 4,000 boys, could also be screened for.
While few non-clinicians doubt the value of offering couples information
about the possibility of catastrophic handicap in their unborn child, many
people fear that information and counselling about the interpretation of
the screening tests and the effects of the diseases are very limited.
"We get several calls a day from distraught pregnant women," said Carol
Boys, director of the Down's Syndrome Association. "Although we fully
support people whether they want to terminate a pregnancy or not, there is
an impression that doctors are very negative about these sorts of
conditions."
Anya Souza, 37, an artist who was born with Down's syndrome, tours the
country educating people about the disabilities involved.
She enjoys an independent life in a London flat she shares with her
boyfriend. "I don't think my life is worth any less than the lives of other
people," she said. "I think getting rid of a baby because it has Down's is
wrong. It's something you just don't do to children."
Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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Bill Albert
The White House
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UK
Phone 01603 402003 From US 011 44 1603 402003
Fax 01603 423432 From US 011 44 1603 423432
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