Genetics and Reproductive Technologies
Modern genetics and technological aids to human reproduction, like other advances in science and technology, have created ethical problems heretofore unencountered. Biomedical developments have also posed new conceptual, epistemological, and metaphysical problems. This entry addresses these philosophical concerns as well as the more widely discussed ethical implications of contemporary genetics and reproductive technologies. One conceptual and ethical link between these two fields is the prospect of "designing our descendants." This prospect has been viewed by some as a boon to humankind (Fletcher 1974) and by others as a fearsome possibility to be avoided at all costs (Ramsey 1970).
The Human Genome Initiative, a "big science" project launched by the U.S. government to map and sequence the entire human genome, has heightened concerns about the privacy and confidentiality of genetic information, the uses to which such information might be put, and the possibility of stigmatizing individuals or groups because of their genetic constitution. The knowledge the Human Genome Project can yield is massive in contrast to previous efforts to acquire information about human genetics.
The contemporary science of genetics provides, not only an understanding of heritable traits, but also the capability to diagnose the probability or certainty of transmitting to offspring genetic conditions such as sickle-cell anemia.
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