CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS: BioEdge: What the man in the street thinks about human enhancement

sábado, 7 de mayo de 2016

BioEdge: What the man in the street thinks about human enhancement

BioEdge: What the man in the street thinks about human enhancement

Bioedge

What the man in the street thinks about human enhancement

by Michael Cook | 7 May 2016 |

What does the American public think about human germline enhancement? A survey of 17 polls taken over the 30 years published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that Americans support gene therapy for patients with serious diseases, but they oppose it in embryos or germ cells. The authors conclude: “Of course, public opinion could change over time as discussions of these issues continue to evolve and as more is learned about the implications and safety of gene-editing technologies.”

However, Pete Shanks, at the Center for Genetics and Society, in California, reaches a different conclusion from much the same information. The latest polls show that more than 80% of people surveyed thought that babies should not be genetically modified for increased intelligence or sporting ability. “These are, or should be, devastating numbers to anyone who thinks that the public supports human heritable genetic modification,” he concludes.

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/what-the-man-in-the-street-thinks-about-human-enhancement/11861#sthash.u7SnI8vW.dpuf

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BioEdge was launched in 2001, in the week that President George W. Bush announced his administration's policy on human embryonic stem cell research. That fuelled a huge debate about a field of science which very few people had ever heard of, let alone thought deeply about. Ever since we've been chronicling the debates surrounding the ever-expanding empire of bioethics.

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