Testing Embryos for Polygenic Conditions and Traits
摘要
This chapter examines the ethical, scientific, and regulatory challenges of preimplantation genetic testing for polygenic conditions (PGT-P) and the use of this technology to select for non-medical traits. PGT-P allows testing for conditions influenced by multiple genes, including schizophrenia, diabetes, and heart disease. Unlike preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic conditions, which provides definitive results, PGT-P offers probabilistic risk scores, raising ethical concerns about environmental influences, disparities in predictive accuracy across ethnicities, and decision-making complexities due to pleiotropy. The chapter explores whether prospective parents should have the freedom to use PGT-P to test for polygenic conditions, and considers issues such as reproductive liberty, the potential to prevent debilitating conditions, and the importance of comprehensive genetic counselling. It also critically evaluates whether PGT-P should be used for trait selection, focusing on intelligence. Arguments raised in the previous chapter, such as procreative beneficence and the open future argument will be revisited, and new ethical objections introduced, including the therapeutic/non-therapeutic distinction and the ‘playing God’ argument. In conclusion, the chapter argues that while PGT-P poses unique challenges, it may be ethically permissible.