Ronald M Green Babies Summary

In the third chapter of Ronald M. Green’s Babies by Design Green suggest the idea of categorizing the different degrees of human gene modification into the style of Punnett squares. Additionally, this chapter mainly focuses on the boundaries and of genetic engineering from Somatic modification treatment to germline enhancement.

Green breaks this chapter up, in essentially four sections. He acknowledges the benefits of all four types of genetic modification and while some are less controversial than others, he presents a more in-depth argument for ones that are hotly debated, like germline gene therapy. Green briefly touches on gene therapy that aims to cure diseases in an individual. He also considers the fact that this is therapy is particularly risky and dangerous, he holds strong with his idea that, “if the disease is serious enough […] it is usually worth trying.” (pg. 56). Green then moves onto the second ‘square’ of this chapter-germline gene therapy. Green goes much more deeply into this section, mostly because this subject often

He writes about the possibility of inventing a way in which germline gene therapy could be used to cure serious diseases such as HIV/AIDS. He goes further to present this type of therapy as desirable for instances such as curing sickle cells disease. Reverting to somatic cell therapy Green states that although both have had negative consequences, more specifically in somatic cell therapy, why do we just not “get rid of the disease once and for all through germline therapy?” (pg. 65). With this said, he continues on this question presenting different forms of successful germline gene therapy and concludes that it would make sense to associate germline gene therapy for “pure enhancement”