Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103020458
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES HITE MEDICAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Those involved in this area of research are interested in preventing serious disease. We are not interested in determining trivial traits," Dr. Howard Jones said at a news conference at Hollins College.
Determing the sex of an embryo would be appropriate only for couples who are at risk of having children with sex-linked disorders, said Dr. Georgeanna Jones.
The Joneses are founders of a reproductive institute at Eastern Virginia Medical School that pioneered the technique of test-tube babies. More than 500 children have been born to previously infertile couples who have been to the institute.
Most cultures find the practice of using prenatal testing simply to determine a child's sex morally wrong, said John Fletcher, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Virginia.
Fletcher and the Joneses are participating in a two-day conference at Hollins dealing with research in reproductive technology and the ethical questions raised by high-tech advances.
New techniques are allowing research for the first time on "pre-embryos" - fertilized eggs less than 14 days old that have not attached to the womb. The Jones' institute plans next spring to test 3-day-old embryos for genetic abnormalities that cause deadly diseases. Only those embryos free from defects would be implanted in a mother's uterus.
Such research raises the questions of how these embryos should be treated, Fletcher said. "One shouldn't be able to do anything one wants to embryos," he said.
A limitation on research to embryos less than 14 days old should be imposed, Fletcher suggested. All research should be subject to scrutiny by an independent group of scientists and ethicists, he added.
Fletcher said he believes it should be acceptable to "create embryos" solely for the purpose of research. Many ethicists have argued that research should be limited to "spare" embryos created for couples who have turned to test-tube fertilization.
The debate over how to treat embryos has been linked to resolving their moral status. "I think personhood is acquired gradually, and it is not an instantaneous process," Howard Jones said.
It is important to remember, Georgeanna Jones said, that until an embryo is 14 days old, it is composed mostly of material that will develop into the placenta, an organ that helps nourish the developing baby.
by CNB