Mahendra wrote:The technology is prohibitively expensive and it is not likely that dumb country doctors will get their hands on it. Basic primary health care should be the main objective for dumb country doctors.
The rich will sooner or later find a way to have designer babies and it is more than likely that some Indian Whiz will pioneer the technology, but projecting from current trends it does not seem likely that designer babies will pass the ethical test. However like India is a hugely popular destination for firangis looking for a takeaway organ transplant centres, genetic engineering too will probably fall in the same category.
This moral dielmma of the west is pure eyewash, western companies fund clinical trials in developing countries with the aim of marketing the drug in the West first.
The technology will be improved until it becomes ridiculously easy to use - market forces will see to that. Nobody thought that computer chips would leave the mainframe environment and reach the home, but they certainly did, and sparked massive consumer demand.
Likewise, today we see Indian country doctors roving around the countryside offering ultrasound and amniocentesis tests for gender determination - and there are plenty of customers flocking to them.
Certainly, there is no shortage of people wanting to get a leg up on life through their children.
As long as the demand is there, then there will be a waiting market that calls for these products and services to be developed.
I don't know what kind of crazy world it will lead to, but genetic selection is itself a built-in human trait, as so many of our unconscious responses are built around it.
Here is the latest on Venter's "synthia":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_ ... 140442.stm