Should We Edit the Genomes of Human Embryos? A Geneticist and Social Scientist Discuss

September 25, 2018

(The Conversation) – Felicity Boardman: The birth of a child with genetic disease is generally an unexpected event. The parents of these children typically won’t have a family history with the condition, or even be aware that they are genetic “carriers”: that they can transmit a genetic condition to their offspring, but do not have it themselves. Indeed, there are currently only two carrier screening programmes active in the UK that are implemented during pregnancy (one for for thalassaemia, and the other for sickle cell trait). So for most parents, discovering the condition in their family occurs through their child’s diagnosis, either through the newborn heel prick test, or following the onset of symptoms.