A Precarious Balance

In Search of Balance

The author of The Social Costs of Genetic Welfare, Marque-Luisa Miringoff, argues that we must strike a balance between the goal of eradicating genetic diseases and respect for human dignity. Social movements of the past fifty years have stressed respect for differences and support for those with less strength or power than the perfectly healthy. Miringoff states that a single-minded focus on genetic health “narrows the range of desirable human beings, identifying the different, the diseased, or the disabled as those we wish to ‘root out’” (p. 161). The challenge is to enable the less-than-perfect to function as fully as possible in society through, for instance, universal design in buildings that eliminates barriers to the disabled, even while we seek to reduce pain and suffering through genetics and reproductive technology. There is often, of course, a difference between thinking of what is good for society and what is good for one’s own family. One can also question whether to reduce pain and suffering by denying life to those whom we expect to experience it is the best plan. There are a number of ways to reason on that which I will consider the next time I add to this blog.