“Changing genes in people who carry diseases is one thing”
Did God REALLY SAY......????
Psalm 139:13-18 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
So a doctor has an opinion about his line of work.
He’s in no place to demand the rest of us agree with him.
Medical science that has come out of Christian Western Civilization is one of mankind’s greatest acheivements and a great blessing from God.
These children in the womb are currently targets for the abortioners.
Think how this destroys their argument for killing the babies with such congenital problems.
Warned?
No doubt these are the people who never eat GMO food, but are willing to have GMO children?
They claim to be ethical, but they reject ethical.objections.
If they get to decide for themselves what is “ethical” then they really should stop calling it that.
The ability to correct a gene defect that is discovered in utero, and thus save that child from a severe genetic disease that would limit the child's quality and length of life, is justified, and is really not any different than gene therapy for cystic fibrosis.
The problem with all gene correction, and gene therapy, is that it is very difficult in a fully developed child or adult, with billions of cells, to target and efficiency alter the DNA of those cells that are involve in the disease process (e.g. muscle cells in muscular dystrophy). The hope is that if detected in utero, enough cells could be targeted such that as the child develops and grows (e.g. making more cells) the new cells will contain the corrected gene. That's a simplistic way of putting it, but it is valid.
Gene editing has become relatively simple to do, but the specificity of gene editing is not as precise as some would have you believe. Gene editing is predicated on the idea that if you make targeting constructs (using CRISPR-Cas9, or ZFPs, or TALENS) that target a specific gene, they will ‘home’ there and specifically alter that gene. The reality is that none of these molecules are the equivalent of a GPS or terrain-guided missile.
In a cell, these constructs don't ‘go to a specific address’. They have a binding affinity and binding energy predicated on their affinity for the target. They ‘bounce around’ in the cell nucleus contacting the enormous expanse of cellular DNA randomly. They find their target only by the favorable binding energy. That said, if there are enough of these constructs in the cell, some will bind to the proper targeted site, but once that site is occupied the remaining molecules will have a propensity to bind to the ‘next best’ sites with regards binding energy.
The point is, that like medications, there is the possibility of off target effects. That's just one, very real, considerations.
I feel that the Church, with its history of persecuting people who embraced science the Church disagreed with, is now trying to atone for its previous mistakes. However, in so doing, it is making another huge mistake.
See also "Master Race."
He does not sound like a "Christian Doctor and Theologian" to me. He sounds like a liar.