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Gene editing and disabled people: a response to Felicity Boardman

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Abstract

Is the germline gene editing (GEE) of embryos with disabling conditions a moral obligation? According to a recent editorial by F. Broadmann, there are strong reasons to hold the opposite, since “such a focus on the benefit to individual embryos is to overlook the broader societal changes that genome editing will signal, as well as the potential negative impacts on existing persons with genetic conditions”. This paper is aimed at rebuking these arguments by invoking the human dignity principle.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Government of the Basque Country, Grant IT-1066-16 and the EU Commission, H2020 SWAFS Programme, PANELFIT Project, research grant number 788039.

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Correspondence to Iñigo de Miguel Beriain.

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de Miguel Beriain, I. Gene editing and disabled people: a response to Felicity Boardman. J Community Genet 11, 241–243 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-020-00460-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-020-00460-w

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