National and International Approaches to Human Germ-Line Gene Therapy

Abstract

Germ-line gene therapy, in which genetic flaws are corrected in the DNA of externally fertilized human embryos, lies in the distant yet foreseeable future. Worries about germ-line therapy have prompted international bodies to craft guidelines that are unusual for their anticipatory nature. Motivating these guidelines is the idea that a “transnational harmonization” of principles should be reached before national policies are developed. This article reviews selected national policies and international recommendations, and it concludes that national policies should be precedents for, rather than descendants of, international normative codes. The inclination to develop morally-based codes, which is implicit in transnational harmonization, will be more useful if grounded in empirically-based medical technologies and politically-tested policies rather than on abstract principles developed well in advance of technological feasibility.

Cross‐border reprogenetic services

“…In the context of reprogenetics, this reflection merges with the question of the protection of genetic information and the risk of discrimination associated with its disclosure. Lastly, the utopias/dystopias of liberal eugenics, through the use of enhancement or highly precise selective technologies have been evoked in a speculative manner (39,40). Such uses of reprogenetics may seem futuristic and marginal (49), but may come back in an ethically blurry perspective through the use of PGD for non-medical conditions (62).…”

“…Policy issues are the most common reasons used empirically and theoretically to explain CBRS (10,11,23,30,32,34,36,37,39,40,43,(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52). Along with surrogacy and gamete donation, sex selection, PGD and PGS are the most banned and heavily restricted reproductive technologies (32).…”

“…Inversely, '[n]ational policies contribute models that can be used in the construction of transnational principles' (39). This is what Dove refers to as 'upstream engagement' (63) or the idea that transnational harmonization may be more efficient if grounded in policies that have been politically debated in their early stages (39).…”

Genetic engineering: Moral aspects and control of practice

“…There are currently efforts to make international guidelines for gene therapy, particularly by UNESCO (78). Those calling for national guidelines argue that each culture should make its own standards because of national autonomy, and because people in each country have different attitudes (79). The UNESCO International Bioethics Committee is drafting general guidelines and an international declaration on the human genome and human genetics, which will be put to the approval of the United Nations General Assembly in 1998 (78).…”

The Ethics of Gene Therapy and Abortion: Public Opinion

“…The churches, traditional guardians of morals, have diverse, carefully reasoned views [13,14] ; secular philosophers and ethicists have also put forward views [4,[15][16][17] ; governments rely on advisory committees to alert them to ethical issues [18,19] , and the moral views of researchers themselves throughout the developed world have been canvassed in pioneering studies [3] .…”