{"id":5274,"date":"2014-03-26T23:19:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T06:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5274"},"modified":"2018-03-05T22:40:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T06:40:21","slug":"genetic-screening-to-improve-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5274","title":{"rendered":"Genetic screening to improve intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing in The Conversation<\/em><\/a>, ethicist Julian Savulescu discusses recently published findings that indicate that children with two copies of a common gene (Thr92Ala) and low thyroid hormone levels apparently increase the likelihood of low IQ by a factor of four.\u00a0 Since the “risk of low intelligence” depends upon both the genetic configuration and hormonal level, he suggests that such children could be treated with supplemental thyroid hormones “to enhance their intelligence.”<\/p>\n

The “low intelligence” to which he refers is the 4 % of the U.K. population estimated to have an IQ of between 70 and 85.<\/p>\n

“If we could enhance their intelligence, say with thyroid hormone supplementation,” he writes, “we should.”<\/p>\n

Savulescu’s focus on intelligence in this case should not become a distraction.\u00a0 Supplementing hormones seems to present no special ethical problems, since the goal\u00a0in that case would not be eugenic perfectionism or enhancement, but\u00a0therapeutic correction of\u00a0a deficiency.\u00a0 However, Savulescu goes beyond this to propose that IVF embryos be screened, and that embryos found to have two copies of the Thr92Ala gene not be selected for implantation.\u00a0 What is unstated is that the ‘defective’ embryos should be killed.\u00a0 This\u00a0would be\u00a0an ethical\/moral problem for anyone who holds that deliberately killing human embryos is wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing in The Conversation, ethicist Julian Savulescu discusses recently published findings that indicate that children with two copies of a common gene (Thr92Ala) and low thyroid hormone levels apparently increase the likelihood of low IQ by a factor of four.\u00a0 Since the “risk of low intelligence” depends upon both the genetic configuration and hormonal level, … Continue reading “Genetic screening to improve intelligence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,508,3699],"tags":[1085,1373,1374,208],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-reproduction","category-ethical-commentary","category-eugenics-genetics","tag-in-vitro-fertilization","tag-intelligence","tag-iq","tag-julian-savulescu"],"yoast_head":"\r\nGenetic screening to improve intelligence - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5274\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Genetic screening to improve intelligence - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing in The Conversation, ethicist Julian Savulescu discusses recently published findings that indicate that children with two copies of a common gene (Thr92Ala) and low thyroid hormone levels apparently increase the likelihood of low IQ by a factor of four.\u00a0 Since the “risk of low intelligence” depends upon both the genetic configuration and hormonal level, … Continue reading "Genetic screening to improve intelligence"\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5274\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-27T06:19:40+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-06T06:40:21+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Genetic screening to improve intelligence\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-27T06:19:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-06T06:40:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274\"},\"wordCount\":215,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"in vitro fertilization\",\"intelligence\",\"IQ\",\"Julian Savulescu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Artificial reproduction\",\"Ethical Commentary\",\"Eugenics, Genetics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5274\",\"name\":\"Genetic screening to improve intelligence - 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