Notion de progrès- In what extent the brakthroughs in genetics constitute real progress?

NOTION OF PROGRESS

Documents : « Saviour Sibling », « The stark truth about doning », « Baby selected to be free from breast cancer gene is born »

    Progress is an improvement, an evolution in different areas such as science, technology, politics, economy, art, which aims at bettering the human condition. For example, we can point out many medical breakthroughs, the evolution of communication thanks to the internet, the womens’ rights, liberty, etc. My main presentation will focus on progress in the scientific area, illustrated by the advances in genetic engineering.  Indeed, I intend to examine to what extent the brakthroughs in genetics constitute real progress.

To support my presentation, I will discuss three documents : a newspaper article and a video we studied in class, and a newspaper article I found my own.

    The first document I chose is called «  Saviour Sibling », it is about a sick little boy whose parents decided to conceive another child thanks to PGD, a saviour sibling, to cure his sick brother.  

    In the Wittaker family, a British family, the eldest son Charlie suffered from DBA, Diamond Blackfan Anemia, which is a blood disorder. The only way to cure him was a cell transplant. Unfortunately neither his parentsnor his sister could provide Charlie with suitable cells, so he was doomed to a life of pain including frequent and tough medical treatments. He said to his doctor «  Why are you hurting me, you don’t really love me, please stop hurting me. » To cure him, his parents decided to conceive a child thanks to PGD, so he would have the same blueprint as Charlie. PGD, or Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, is a medical technique which allows doctors to check genes from an embryo obtained through IVF, in vitro fertilisation. This procedure however, is, illegal in the UK so the couple had to move to the US. Charlie’s mother was implanted with an embryo that had the same genetic profile as Charlie. Luckily the baby, Jamie, was healthy and didn’t have DBA, although he had a one in fifty chance of having the disease. Charlie was then transplanted with his baby brother’s stem cells which were taken from his umbilical cord after he was born. After the transplant Charlie was monitored regularly, and it now appears that he is cured. The Wittakers’ story shows that people can rely on science and genetic engineering to save lives , or and make their lives easier. If Charlie had not had that transplant, he might have died. So we may consider that his brother saved his life , and to that extent genetic engineering could be considered as a form of progress, Mrs Whitakers claimed « I am so proud of both of them and I would do it all over again. » However this story also raises issues, and was very controversial in Britain: Indeed, critics may argue that Jamie had been conceived only to cure his brother, and not because his parents really wanted another child , and this might be a problem for his future life. When he grows up the little boy may think that he was just conceived as a medicine, and that his parents only love him because he cured his brother. Worse, he may even consider that he was used as a ‘spare parts’ provider, which may cause dramatic psychological damage. Not to mention that he may even resent his elder brother for being the reason for his own birth, even if the children’s mother claims that they get on very well « Jamie knows why he was born but knows we would have loved him whether he was a saviour sibling or not. He is a bit of a miracle and he did a great thing. The boys will always have a bond because of it. » So, as a conclusion we can say that the breakthroughs in genetics are a real progress and allowed to save lives and also families.

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    The second document, choosing by my own, is about a woman who is expecting a baby girl, and whose parents screened an embryo to ensure it didn’t carried breast cancer.

 In that British family, most of the women developed breast cancer because of an hereditary gene. To break this hereditary curse, one member of the family resorted to genetics. Indeed, to make sure that her female offspring wouldn’t carry this disease, doctors screened an embryo that didn’t have the gene responsible for breast cancer, this technic is called eugenics. Eugenics is a set of practices who consists to improve the genetic quality of the human population. They can also remove the affected embryo and choose a healthy one. The other possibility to screen an embryo from cancer is to use PGD, that some British hospitals offernow. The baby girl who was subsequently born was free from the cancer-causing gene, and her birth might mark the end of breast cancer in that family which shows that the breakthroughs in genetics might be a progress.

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