There will be no babies born with Downs Syndrom after 2030 in Denmark - Polidicks

[QUOTE=demoguy08;31178894]Ever seen Gattaca?[/QUOTE] Gattaca isn't real life, stop mentioning it when gene improvement comes up

I saw a few posts in here saying it will help stop the spread of the disease in the future, and while it might help a [i]tiny bit[/i], because people with downs syndrome are more likely to have children with downs syndrome, it won't actually help that much. It's caused by having a trisomy of chromosome 21, which [i]any[/i] parent can do, and is just more likely if you are older. It doesn't have much to do with the makeup of the genes themselves, so having parents with it won't guarantee it passes down (although it is more likely)

[QUOTE=Reimu;31175083]What if that child would've ended up having a great life though, and overcame those obstacles that life put forth and had a great perspective on life overall by the time they died? Doesn't matter though because the mom said she didn't want the kid.[/QUOTE] That's a good question. My answer is this: Between you and the fetus, only YOU have the complete information on the upcoming disability. So essentially you are deciding for the child you have "I'm willing to bet a potential lifetime of EXTRA misery for you, beyond the usual problems everyone has, that somehow you will have an awesome life anyways. And if I'm wrong? So what, it's not like I'm the one who has to live with that disability." That's the sucked part. You would be forcing someone, whether they like it or not, to live that way. How would you like it if someone said "Dude, we're going to cut off your legs and you have to live that way from now on. You can still have an awesome life though, just overcome this new obstacle."? I bet if you had to do it suddenly it doesn't seem so fair does it?

This is great news. If anyone even tries the inverse of this then they are just damaging to the human race by trying to spread lack of chromosomes.

Ugh, nobody understands The trend WILL continue, and the number of Down syndrome children WILL fall, but probably never reach zero. The reason for this is that the entire point of the article is that women are more likely to detect random Down syndrome development in their child and abort the baby. This trend is getting more common. It is a big stretch to say for sure the number of Downs babies will be zero, ever

Unless of course they find a way to cure downs syndrome.

oh never mind

[QUOTE=Dr Magnusson;31172133]But.. What about Morten & Peter? :([/QUOTE] I actually know a guy with downs. He's horrible at pretty much anything, except playing harmonica. He tours retirement homes with his teacher, playing music for them. He's boss, compared to the fact he's got downs. [editline]18th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=carcarcargo;31181835]Unless of course they find a way to cure downs syndrome.[/QUOTE] Mission impossible.

[QUOTE=Van-man;31181932]I actually know a guy with downs. He's horrible at pretty much anything, except playing harmonica. He tours retirement homes with his teacher, playing music for them. He's boss, compared to the fact he's got downs. [editline]18th July 2011[/editline] Mission impossible.[/QUOTE] Not if you can cure it before the child is born.

It is caused by a fault in every single cell in the body, not sure what you could do.

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;31182163]It is caused by a fault in every single cell in the body, not sure what you could do.[/QUOTE] Before birth, when the child is but a few cells in size.

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;31182281]Before birth, when the child is but a few cells in size.[/QUOTE] The child is never a few cells in size because the child does not exist.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31181749]That's a good question. My answer is this: Between you and the fetus, only YOU have the complete information on the upcoming disability. So essentially you are deciding for the child you have "I'm willing to bet a potential lifetime of EXTRA misery for you, beyond the usual problems everyone has, that somehow you will have an awesome life anyways. And if I'm wrong? So what, it's not like I'm the one who has to live with that disability." That's the sucked part. You would be forcing someone, whether they like it or not, to live that way. How would you like it if someone said "Dude, we're going to cut off your legs and you have to live that way from now on. You can still have an awesome life though, just overcome this new obstacle."? I bet if you had to do it suddenly it doesn't seem so fair does it?[/QUOTE] The problem is though that, in the end, we don't know how much of a factor that disability is going to play in them having an awesome or awful life. We can get a good feel of it based on our own environment, how we are as a person, the possibility of a support network, etc but we just don't know. It also depends on how you approach life yourself; whether you feel like life should be cherished no matter what the obstacle or environment, or you feel like there's a threshold of the quality of life where quality is too low for life to exist. Depending on how the parent feels is going to affect whether they choose to abort the child or not, and depending on how the child feels is obviously going to affect how they grow up in their environment. Also for the record, I would hate to lose my legs, but I'd learn to deal with it and move on. Despite all of the things I would lose, there's still plenty of things in life worth living that can make up for that loss. And there's also other pluses to even losing your legs; albeit small things.

Also, this will also as a side effect cut down on people complaining about their shoes hurting, despite them only wearing socks, with no shoes in sight.

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;31182281]Before birth, when the child is but a few cells in size.[/QUOTE] And then it's not a child, nor is it possible to detect if it's gonna be a child suffering from downs. Abortion might be cruel, but so is a life with downs. Not every person with downs is as fortunate as the guy I mentioned. He's actually really lucky that he found something that he both liked to do and was actually really good at.

[QUOTE=Van-man;31182365]Abortion is cruel[/QUOTE] I'd like to disagree.

[QUOTE=certified;31182383]I'd like to disagree.[/QUOTE] Well fuck me 7 ways to sunday, I missed putting in [I]might be[/I] in my previous post, and instead put in a [I]is[/I]

[QUOTE=certified;31182305]The child is never a few cells in size because the child does not exist.[/QUOTE] Well he kind of does he's just a few cells in size.

As a person born with a genetic disorder I would definitely want to have pre-birth screening done as I don't want my child to have to deal with the same obstacles I did, especially considering how much harder it would be on a girl were I to have one. While I as a sentient (probably) being am thankful for my life, I would much rather have my defect wiped from the gene pool. Were I to have a family of my own I would much rather adopt, however if my wife were to want to have a child of our own this kind of screening is exactly what I would want.

[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;31182672]As a person born with a genetic disorder[/QUOTE] I think people should post what genetic disorder they have when they say this just to keep the topic interesting

[QUOTE=Zeke129;31182832]I think people should post what genetic disorder they have when they say this just to keep the topic interesting[/QUOTE] You want people to come in and talk about how their shoes hurt?

[QUOTE=certified;31182893]You want people to come in and talk about how their shoes hurt?[/QUOTE] I'd hope mine is a bit more interesting than inanimate objects feeling pain, I have a mild form of Epidermolysis Bullosa. When sheared off my top layer of skin won't regenerate causing even minor scrapes to leave my second layer of skin exposed, inflamed, and prone to blistering. I could always have it worse, but it's definitely not something I want my child to have.

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;31182281]Before birth, when the child is but a few cells in size.[/QUOTE] I agree that abortion can be somewhat cruel later on, but when the child is "just a few cells in size", it would be much easier to abort it, it having absolutely no shred of consciousness yet. I interpreted "just a few cells in size" as meaning within the very first few weeks

[QUOTE=Dr_Funk;31172552]Anyone who thinks people with down's syndrome cannot have a happy life has no understanding of the disabled.[/QUOTE] But why have a Down Syndrome child when you can have a not-down syndrome child FOR FREE?! :rock:

[QUOTE=Jo The Shmo;31181262]because people with downs syndrome are more likely to have children with downs syndrome[/QUOTE] people with downs syndrome are very unlikely to have childeren at all [editline]17th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=MegaChalupa;31182672]I would much rather have my defect wiped from the gene pool. [/QUOTE] people severely misunderstand genetics when they talk about the gene pool

What I'm most worried about is how far this could possibly go, I'm worried it could get to a stage where parents go "Oh, this child is going to have brown eyes, gross!, better abort it and try again until we get one with blue eyes"

[QUOTE=thisispain;31183419] people severely misunderstand genetics when they talk about the gene pool[/QUOTE] Then I'll rephrase it. I would much rather have my instance of this hereditary disorder not be inherited by my offspring.

[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;31183549]Then I'll rephrase it. I would much rather have my instance of this hereditary disorder not be inherited by my offspring.[/QUOTE] how would you manage that? and what about the other huge variety of hereditary disorders that you probably carry as well? my point is basically refining the gene pool is not ever a realistic concept

If I had down syndrome, it would suck to be aborted. The parents would seem like total dicks to me, y'know, if I wasn't dead.

[QUOTE=thisispain;31183606]how would you manage that? and what about the other huge variety of hereditary disorders that you probably carry as well? my point is basically refining the gene pool is not ever a realistic concept[/QUOTE] In the case of wiping out a fairly uncommon disorder yes it is a realistic concept. In my case it's dominant and present on the X chromosome, were I to have a daughter she would be guaranteed to have it, were I to have a son, he would not have it, were I to adopt, the child will most likely not have it. If I become sterile or die, this instance of the disease would be removed from the gene pool. Were I to conceive a female with my mate I would welcome any opportunity for a medical practitioner to administer gene therapy or whatever necessary to eliminate the defect. That kind of work relies on sequencing the genome which is why this topic is relevant. [QUOTE=SnowCanary;31183645]If I had down syndrome, it would suck to be aborted. The parents would seem like total dicks to me, y'know, if I wasn't dead.[/QUOTE] It wouldn't make a difference to you if you were aborted as your consciousness never would have existed for you to feel that way.