Pre-implantation genetic testing and morally responsible eugenics

Abstract

Historically, the eugenics movement is thoroughly discredited on ethical, moral and scientific grounds, but the social need of genetically improving humans remains relevant. The emergence of new genetic technologies and their applications often demand fresh debate. Can eugenic ideas be dissociated from the evils of the past and pursued through renewed means? Against the selection of individuals with desirable traits in the classical eugenics, a new, morally responsible eugenics must be considered on its own terms. Whether these case reports represent a “new” form of eugenics need to be asked. Without asking these questions, the ethics of genetic technologies and the new eugenics will be far from settled. What we need is a framework towards the same. It is the time when geneticists, bioethicists, counsellors, doctors, embryologists and couples should come together and discuss the framework which must be applied to “new” eugenics where the patient is a mass of cells whose fate is to be decided in the most responsible way without compromising the principles of eugenics. It's us who will have to pave the way for the future generations and a society which is healthy yet responsible. We congratulate and thank the authors of both these papers for reporting their interesting cases and throwing light on the growing dimensions of eugenics.