'Designer Babies'

[Anonymous 1]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/health/d ... index.html

''Genetic modification would allow doctors to protect future people against cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia, as well as other common illnesses, said Smith.
"If several common disorders could be avoided or delayed by genetically modifying humans, the average disease-free lifespan could be substantially extended," he said in a press statement.''

So, are they going to weed out the autism gene? It says nothing about it, even though medical 'experts' are claiming it's 'genetic'.

[Deleted User 670]

I cannot imagine that something like this would even be made legal due to the ethics factor.

[Pjmm]

Idk. I had this discussion with a friend of ours who has autism. I said-i wasn't thinking or I would have stayed silent- this guy I'm reading on Facebook doesn't like the idea of curing autism. He said you can't. This is who I am. He's 17 years old. So that's argument number one. Heart disease is definitely a bad thing but is autism necessarily bad? The symptoms certainly can be. The hypersensitivity must be awful for example, or the mood swings. But not every autistic person suffers from that or from being unable to function socially. Secondly they've got to identify the gene that causes autism. If it's something that links to personality maybe fixing it causes more problems. Idk. As far as designer babies go I sit here thinking um yes what could possibly go wrong? I've read too much Brave New World stuff I guess.

[LiveWhatULove]

Autism is not a single gene disorder in majority of cases.

It is likely polygenetic in nature (meaning multiple genes) and then with specific epigenetic influences (environmental impact which turns certain genes on or off).

They do not have the techniques to prevent disease like this at that time. It is far more complex, than editing a few genes. But I am all for editing to cure single gene disorders. That would be awesome.

[Anonymous 1]

Idk. I had this discussion with a friend of ours who has autism. I said-i wasn't thinking or I would have stayed silent- this guy I'm reading on Facebook doesn't like the idea of curing autism. He said you can't. This is who I am. He's 17 years old. So that's argument number one. Heart disease is definitely a bad thing but is autism necessarily bad? The symptoms certainly can be. The hypersensitivity must be awful for example, or the mood swings. But not every autistic person suffers from that or from being unable to function socially. Secondly they've got to identify the gene that causes autism. If it's something that links to personality maybe fixing it causes more problems. Idk. As far as designer babies go I sit here thinking um yes what could possibly go wrong? I've read too much Brave New World stuff I guess.

so a mother carrying an autistic child not knowing if it's severe, or mild -- who'd take that chance, knowing they could potentially have a child with life threatening disabilities for their entire lives? Who would WANT to give birth to a child that's going to have NO quality of life? A mother who's got the chance to remove that particular gene would most likely jump at the chance of not having a severely disabled child, especially if she's already got one she's caring for.

[Anonymous 1]

Autism is not a single gene disorder in majority of cases.

It is likely polygenetic in nature (meaning multiple genes) and then with specific epigenetic influences (environmental impact which turns certain genes on or off).

They do not have the techniques to prevent disease like this at that time. It is far more complex, than editing a few genes. But I am all for editing to cure single gene disorders. That would be awesome.

it hasn't even been established it is in fact, genetic. If it were, the race would be on to 'eliminate' the cause of the gene disorder. No such talk has taken place - at all.

Autism is not a 'disease'.

[Pjmm]

Idk. I had this discussion with a friend of ours who has autism. I said-i wasn't thinking or I would have stayed silent- this guy I'm reading on Facebook doesn't like the idea of curing autism. He said you can't. This is who I am. He's 17 years old. So that's argument number one. Heart disease is definitely a bad thing but is autism necessarily bad? The symptoms certainly can be. The hypersensitivity must be awful for example, or the mood swings. But not every autistic person suffers from that or from being unable to function socially. Secondly they've got to identify the gene that causes autism. If it's something that links to personality maybe fixing it causes more problems. Idk. As far as designer babies go I sit here thinking um yes what could possibly go wrong? I've read too much Brave New World stuff I guess.

so a mother carrying an autistic child not knowing if it's severe, or mild -- who'd take that chance, knowing they could potentially have a child with life threatening disabilities for their entire lives? Who would WANT to give birth to a child that's going to have NO quality of life? A mother who's got the chance to remove that particular gene would most likely jump at the chance of not having a severely disabled child, especially if she's already got one she's caring for.

Right now she's got no way of knowing what she's carrying right? They haven't identified the gene for autism. Idk if it's even one or many. Yds is hypersensitive but not autistic. Why? Idk. I'm just giving you the perspective of what someone told me. It's not like heart disease or cancer. Many people like Einstein were thought to be on the spectrum. If we were able to find the gene for autism and remove it what would be the outcome? All I'm saying is we must ask ourselves that with any of this genetic tampering.

[Pjmm]

Idk. I had this discussion with a friend of ours who has autism. I said-i wasn't thinking or I would have stayed silent- this guy I'm reading on Facebook doesn't like the idea of curing autism. He said you can't. This is who I am. He's 17 years old. So that's argument number one. Heart disease is definitely a bad thing but is autism necessarily bad? The symptoms certainly can be. The hypersensitivity must be awful for example, or the mood swings. But not every autistic person suffers from that or from being unable to function socially. Secondly they've got to identify the gene that causes autism. If it's something that links to personality maybe fixing it causes more problems. Idk. As far as designer babies go I sit here thinking um yes what could possibly go wrong? I've read too much Brave New World stuff I guess.

so a mother carrying an autistic child not knowing if it's severe, or mild -- who'd take that chance, knowing they could potentially have a child with life threatening disabilities for their entire lives? Who would WANT to give birth to a child that's going to have NO quality of life? A mother who's got the chance to remove that particular gene would most likely jump at the chance of not having a severely disabled child, especially if she's already got one she's caring for.

I will also add it seems to me all of humanity is on the spectrum. Any of us can show behaviors that are seen in people with autism. So can animals in the right environment. So I think the problem is extremely complex, more so than to point to one gene.

[LiveWhatULove]

Autism is not a single gene disorder in majority of cases.

It is likely polygenetic in nature (meaning multiple genes) and then with specific epigenetic influences (environmental impact which turns certain genes on or off).

They do not have the techniques to prevent disease like this at that time. It is far more complex, than editing a few genes. But I am all for editing to cure single gene disorders. That would be awesome.

it hasn't even been established it is in fact, genetic. If it were, the race would be on to 'eliminate' the cause of the gene disorder. No such talk has taken place - at all.

Autism is not a 'disease'.

I really do not understand your response to me.

Every single neural pathway that is built, every protein that is made, every neurotransmitter produced is coded by our genes...so in fact, every biological thing about us, including the brain structures & neural connectivity involved in ASD, is/are determined by genes and epigenetics. There are numerous published studies which suggest ASD is caused by epigenetic and multiple polygenic variants.

I called autism a disorder, which exactly what it is, and there is a race to understand, including multiple research teams looking at genetic/epigenetic variants.

[Anonymous 2]

I can’t be the only one that finds this creepy as f**k.