|
Reprogenetics is the use of reproductive and genetic technologies to select and genetically modify embryos with germinal choice technology for the purpose of human enhancement.〔(Pray, L. (2008) Embryo screening and the ethics of human genetic engineering. Nature Education 1(1):207 (Retrieved January 24, 2015). )〕 However, a report by the Hastings Center broadly defined reprogenetics as any "creation, use, manipulation, or storage of gametes or embryos." The term was coined by Lee M. Silver, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton University, in his 1997 book ''Remaking Eden''. ==Definition== In Silver's formulation, reprogenetics will involve advances in a number of technologies not yet achieved, but not inherently impossible. Among these are improvements in interpreting the effects of different expressions of DNA, the ability to harvest large numbers of embryos from females, and a far higher rate of reinsertion of embryos into host mothers. The end result, according to Silver, is that those parents who can afford it will be able to pick out the genetic characteristics of their own children, which Silver says will trigger a number of social changes in the decades after its implementation. Possible early applications, however, might be closer to eliminating disease genes passed on to children. According to Silver, the main differences between reprogenetics and eugenics, the belief in the possibility of improving the gene pool which in the first half of the 20th century became infamous for the brutal policies it inspired, is that most eugenics programs were compulsory programs imposed upon citizens by governments trying to enact an ultimate goal. Reprogenetics, by contrast, would be pursued by individual parents, who would be trying to improve their children with the same motivations that compel them to purchase expensive courses in preparation for standardized testing (e.g. the SAT). Eugenics would have required a continual selection for breeding of the "fit", and a culling of the "unfit" while, according to bioethicist James Hughes, universal access to reprogenetics provided by a welfare state would permit the conversion of all the unfit to the highest genetic level. However, he shares Silver's concern that unequal access to reprogenetics could create a two-tiered society of "GenRich" and "GenPoor", genetically engineered "haves" and "have nots" (see the film ''Gattaca'' for a fictional depiction of the latter scenario). Towards the end of Silver's book he speculates that the GenRich and the "Naturals" could, over time, even become separate species, unable to interbreed. However, Silver now accepts the criticism made by many evolutionary biologists that speciation cannot occur without strict reproductive isolation and is therefore extremely unlikely to happen. The other contrast is that it is now known that the concept of genetic purity through eugenics is misguided: this form of genetic purity, insofar as it is meaningful, is effectively inbreeding and results in poor health and infertility while the end result of reprogenetics on the gene pool would be reduced incidence of genetic disease and potentially increased genetic IQ. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Reprogenetics」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|