A parents dilemma
A Parents Dillemma
The case of the "savior sibling" that ocurred in 2006 created worldwide controversy when a swiss couple traveled to Belgium where a procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or PGD could be legally performed.
The parents of the six year old boy who suffered from a life-threatening immune compromising disease had exhausted all other available options.They were now forced to be "medical tourists" , travelling to a nation that legally allowed PGD.
The moral and ethical issues created by the procedure are many. Should a baby be procreated for the sole purpose of creating the stem cells that will save a previous childs life? Most parents in my opinion would agree that it is. The only thing required of the child is the umbilical cord stem cells,which usually are discarded after birth. No invasive surgery or transplant type procedures are needed.
Even if the couple had no previous plans to have any more children the fact that they loved the first child so much that they would go to such great lengths to save it would suggest that they are exceptional parents.The criteria laid laid out by the Belgium authorities are strict, they give serious conideration before granting anyone permission. In fact, only 12 cases have been successful worldwide. Combine that with the fact that there are only enough stem cells to treat a certain size child takes many of tyhe arguments against out of the equation. In fact it seems that the more facts about the procedure become known there seem to be no arguments left except for the moral ones.
My personal viewpoint is that the Belgium model is a good one and should be expanded. This would eliminate the "medical tourism" that families are forced to go through when they are trying to save a family members life. Those who think that circumventing their native countries laws by travelling abroad should be a crime face the burden of convincing their goverment to enact laws imposing appropriate penalties.
As
The case of the "savior sibling" that ocurred in 2006 created worldwide controversy when a swiss couple traveled to Belgium where a procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or PGD could be legally performed.
The parents of the six year old boy who suffered from a life-threatening immune compromising disease had exhausted all other available options.They were now forced to be "medical tourists" , travelling to a nation that legally allowed PGD.
The moral and ethical issues created by the procedure are many. Should a baby be procreated for the sole purpose of creating the stem cells that will save a previous childs life? Most parents in my opinion would agree that it is. The only thing required of the child is the umbilical cord stem cells,which usually are discarded after birth. No invasive surgery or transplant type procedures are needed.
Even if the couple had no previous plans to have any more children the fact that they loved the first child so much that they would go to such great lengths to save it would suggest that they are exceptional parents.The criteria laid laid out by the Belgium authorities are strict, they give serious conideration before granting anyone permission. In fact, only 12 cases have been successful worldwide. Combine that with the fact that there are only enough stem cells to treat a certain size child takes many of tyhe arguments against out of the equation. In fact it seems that the more facts about the procedure become known there seem to be no arguments left except for the moral ones.
My personal viewpoint is that the Belgium model is a good one and should be expanded. This would eliminate the "medical tourism" that families are forced to go through when they are trying to save a family members life. Those who think that circumventing their native countries laws by travelling abroad should be a crime face the burden of convincing their goverment to enact laws imposing appropriate penalties.
As