Science must not play God
In-vitro fertilisation involving three parents, as envisaged in the UK, is pregnant with possibilities. The procedure may in its infancy be severely limited by law to a few hundred sets of parents, of whom the mother might be in danger of passing on debilitating mitochondrial diseases like muscular dystrophy and another donor who could bring in a more perfect genetic stream to a host egg.
But can we stop science from taking this further to make designer babies of the kind that has triggered the imagination of pioneering science fiction writers who foresaw perfect human beings, free of disease, living for several hundred years?
Is man trying to play God by tinkering with genetic modification? At the moment, science is more comfortable with its working knowledge of reproduction and is able to take mankind forward in this direction. There would be reason to worry only when the world evolves beyond this and factors lend themselves more easily to fertility tourism of a more desperate nature. Until then we must see to it that all such science is strictly monitored.
If man is capable of taking scientific research further and, say, become capable of living on the moon, then we would have to look at all the laws afresh. Right now the priorities for science should also be to do with finding cures for deadly diseases like cancer and reducing the death rate caused by malaria and tuberculosis so that the living can also be healthier. A healthier world is bigger than a few hundred healthier babies.
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