Genetic Modification, Good Or Bad?

Is removing deafness via genetic modification a good thing from the perspective of deaf people?

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Woogie

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Hi, Im not deaf myself so I thought the best way to understand this is to ask the deaf community itself in order to gain the perspective of them. With the advent of genetic modification, soon it will be possible for doctors to edit any types of genetic disease out of newborns. My question is that what deaf people think about the possibility of not only the next generation of people to be 100% free of deaf babies, but every generation after that. Would deaf people consider this a good or a bad thing? If you had the choice to be born with hearing or to be born which one would you pick? Thanks for the feedback.
 
Woogie said:
Hi, Im not deaf myself so I thought the best way to understand this is to ask the deaf community itself in order to gain the perspective of them. With the advent of genetic modification, soon it will be possible for doctors to edit any types of genetic disease out of newborns. My question is that what deaf people think about the possibility of not only the next generation of people to be 100% free of deaf babies, but every generation after that. Would deaf people consider this a good or a bad thing? If you had the choice to be born with hearing or to be born which one would you pick? Thanks for the feedback.
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That's quite a choice. What does it mean ? Abort me if I'm deaf? I would prefer to be born deaf, thanks.
 
Bottesini said:
That's quite a choice. What does it mean ? Abort me if I'm deaf? I would prefer to be born deaf, thanks.
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Nonono, Im talking about replacing the genes resulting in deafness with genes resulting in hearing. S=
 
The thing with the line "100% free of deaf babies and every generation thereafter..." I assume you are only speaking of deafness that is from genetic mutation or damaged genes... as there is no 100%. There will always be deaf people in one form or another-- from disease (if the anti-vaxxers have their way, rubella will be back), accidents, environmental/noise. Plus I have to wonder if there are many different genes that would cause deafness- actually there are..Usher's Syndrome, Traecher-Collins to name two.

Even if the gene is 'fixed' in utero and I had a gene that causes deafness- I wouldn't really want it. So much can still go wrong- why mess with it? It's not a terminal thing or so damaging that our lives are not livable.
 
I am really concerned about how far this could go ! What if the government wanted to have people with lower IQ and bigger muscles to fight in wars ??
 
To some extent they are already altering embryos. And there has been approval in some nations to go further ...
 
Hey maybe I can help, I have studied genetics. So they can't replace genes as of right now and are not trying to. They take an egg and fertilize it then test. If it test for deafness or anything else they throw it away. They can collect many samples and put back 3 into the women. Although this is great for down syndrome or Huntington disease I personally don't believe in it for this purpose. I do believe in it for gender selection so maybe I am a hypocrite. There is a movie and genetically alter people it is called gattaca. It has Jude law in it :)
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
Hey maybe I can help, I have studied genetics. So they can't replace genes as of right now and are not trying to. They take an egg and fertilize it then test. If it test for deafness or anything else they throw it away. They can collect many samples and put back 3 into the women. Although this is great for down syndrome or Huntington disease I personally don't believe in it for this purpose. I do believe in it for gender selection so maybe I am a hypocrite. There is a movie and genetically alter people it is called gattaca. It has Jude law in it :)
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Oh yeah i remembered that movie Gattaca.
 
Shoot i don't like Clone but i do like Female Clones. They are not hard to get. silly me. They can learn sign language but My clone of me can talk and hear better than me. I worry about nasty government replace me like movie name Aeon Flux if the genetic modification isn't working.
 
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DeafNerdMommy said:
Hey maybe I can help, I have studied genetics. So they can't replace genes as of right now and are not trying to. They take an egg and fertilize it then test. If it test for deafness or anything else they throw it away. They can collect many samples and put back 3 into the women. Although this is great for down syndrome or Huntington disease I personally don't believe in it for this purpose. I do believe in it for gender selection so maybe I am a hypocrite. There is a movie and genetically alter people it is called gattaca. It has Jude law in it :)
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Saw that movie- pretty good. I'm the opposite.. don't believe in it for gender selection or what some call "designer babies" - right down to hair and eye color. I can see the purpose for diseases like mentioned or for Tay Sachs or any that causes a shortened life span but if in general it doesn't kill the child (Downs, deafness etc) why try to mess with it when we DO have means to accommodate?

Sigh- but there are always going to be people who push the envelope a little too far though I don't think we'll get to the "Low IQ and big muscles" stage (that's already easy to do- massive amounts of steroids :P).
 
Taking what Steiney, DNM, DD, and others said. I think, if everyone was perfect and similar, there would be no diversity. The world would end up being a boring place.
 
It will never happen for the shear fact that once the embryo is big enough and DNA is able to be extracted it is too late to change anything ( Took Biology ) so what has already been set into motion with the spark of life is also already set into stone. Before long science will will have the entire universe set on a collision course for disaster as they already have it unbalanced.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I am really concerned about how far this could go ! What if the government wanted to have people with lower IQ and bigger muscles to fight in wars ??
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They already accomplished the lower IQ....and does Hitler ring a bell? . in case you havent noticed.
 
Woogie said:
Nonono, Im talking about replacing the genes resulting in deafness with genes resulting in hearing. S=
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You need to edit your original post. I think you left out a word.

If you had the choice to be born with hearing or to be born <missing the word deaf?> which one would you pick?
 
sonocativo said:
It will never happen for the shear fact that once the embryo is big enough and DNA is able to be extracted it is too late to change anything ( Took Biology ) so what has already been set into motion with the spark of life is also already set into stone. Before long science will will have the entire universe set on a collision course for disaster as they already have it unbalanced.
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That is why they fertilize it and when it is 7 blastmeres they take one and run the test, out of the womb, and if it is what the parents want they implant it into the womb and hops it lives. If it is not they kill it before it grows any bigger or gets anything. At 7 blastomeres it is just a blob of cells and dna, so the only thing being 'killed' is cells, DNA, and a good sperm.
 
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