Gene 'Fix' in Egg Prevents Inherited Diseases in Monkeys

Reader Comments
Back to article

Why does everyone bring up that crappy movie every single time? Why?
"Let's put an end to heritable genetic defects that seriously hurt people!"
"Noooo, that's meddling with nature Dr. Frankenstein!"
...
...get off my planet.

Anonymous of ND 4:15PM August 27, 2009

All the research and discoveries in the world will amount to very little if it cant be used. The current FDA has proven that. As long as the almighty, blood stained, special interest group dollar speaks louder the the American people, people will suffer needlessly. The NIH helps but you still have to get past the FDA. This can take decades or not at all. The current FDA needs overhauled. It needs to get back to work for the American people. Screw big pharmacy and AMA. The end user is what matters.
Robert

R L Searcy of TX 8:46AM August 27, 2009

All the research and discoveries in the world will amount to very little if it cant be used. The current FDA has proven that. As long as the almighty, blood stained, special interest group dollar speaks louder the the American people, people will suffer needlessly. The NIH helps but you still have to get past the FDA. This can take decades or not at all. The current FDA needs overhauled. It needs to get back to work for the American people. Screw big pharmacy and AMA. The end user is what matters.
Robert

R L Searcy of TX 8:45AM August 27, 2009

It is perfectly possible - and indeed, should be encouraged - to think about the wider raging implications of a technology without distilling it down to the personal consequences. When you do this you invalidate your critique of others as uneducated, ill-informed knee-jerk reactionaries.
What makes you think that this technology would have no application in my life? Or that it couldn't have saved someone close to me? I know it's easier to believe that the things that we want have no negative consequences, but sadly this is hardly ever true.
I hope that if this ever does become available you would give slightly more time and reasoned thought to using it than you have shown in your comments here.

jaded of NY 1:33AM August 27, 2009

I think that this idea is rather cool. I mean for mothers with AIDS or other diseases that can be passed on to their offsprings, this method can give them a healthy, lively offsrping

Yabo Gao of CA 10:47PM August 26, 2009

The harm is the same that accompanies all surgical procedures: i.e. it is easy to do the procedure. What is difficult is to handle all possible complications. I imagine there are many complications of which we know little to nothing about presently.

anonymous of MA 9:05PM August 26, 2009

do you people have any clue what you are actually talking about??? i carry a mito DNA mutation which leads to blindness. if this technology were actually a reality, i could have children with nuclear DNA of both my husband and myself, but the mito DNA of someone else who does NOT carry a mutation. the mito DNA takes food and turns it into energy. it does NOT determine your hair color, skin color, or IQ or any other such ridiculous notion set forth in movies like GATTACA. i am in no way a product of A list hollywood. i'm a housewife with a mito DNA point mutation that causes the optic nerve in adult male children to go necrotic (i.e. the optic nerve DIES and the adult male child is BLIND.)
before you have an opinion, get an education on what is actually involved here. these are knee jerk reactions caused by hollywood movies and politicians. there is no filter applied here, as suggested by the first poster. 100% of your mito DNA comes from your MOTHER (the mito DNA in the sperm is in the tail, which falls off during implantation into the egg). the argument about one virus wiping us out is a nonsequitur in this particular instance.

mishel of NH 7:51PM August 26, 2009

We are heading down a path that will reduce human reproduction to, in effect, the worlds largest, most efficient photocopier (with spell check bulit in). We will never adapt, never advance, never survive. So all in all this is a good thing. It's about time that we put an expiry date on the biggest parasites the world has ever seen.
Is this simply a re-modelling of Darwin's original model? Replacing natural selection with a DNA filter? Not so much survival of the fittest as survival of the desirable. Come the day when everybody who isn't descended from Hollywood A listers genetic material is gone, one decent virus will wipe us all out before we can hit print again.
So we'll all be pretty. And probably tall. Possibly a light shade of brown (my favourite skin tone, but feel free to pick your own). Oh, and most certainly all dead or dying. Variety, even when it inflicts harm and suffering, isn't just the spice of life, it's the building blocks of our survival.

jaded of NY 7:05PM August 26, 2009

This is a VERY welcome harbinger of MANY similar to come--with the understanding of the genome we will be able to "fix" many errors that we carry (about half of our "smell" genes are "broken"--we have a perfectly good gene for making vitamin C--but it too is "broken"--Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!!

Stan Kerns of CO 5:22PM August 26, 2009

The movie is Gattaca, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Ironically, the name Gattaca is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. The four nitrogen bases of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.
Anyhow, the movie paints a rather troublesome picture of human society as it transitions to genetic perfections. Understand, that this will never happen because the pharma industry would do ANYTHING to make sure we did not live in a disease free world. I mean how would they make money (besides treating injuries) if they didn't? Think about it.

Common Cents of CA 5:20PM August 26, 2009