by Al Gore
Drew Halley, “Brain-Doping at the Lab Bench,” Project Syndicate, April 20, 2009.
344 the promise of actually boosting intelligence
Jamais Cascio, “Get Smarter,” Atlantic, July/August 2009; Ross Anderson, “Why Cognitive Enhancement Is in Your Future (and Your Past),” Atlantic, February 6, 2012.
345 as little stigma as cosmetic surgery does today
V. Cakic, “Smart Drugs for Cognitive Enhancement: Ethical and Pragmatic Considerations in the Era of Cosmetic Neurology,” Journal of Medical Ethics 35 (2009): 611–15; Anderson, “Why Cognitive Enhancement Is in Your Future (and Your Past).”
346 used for object recognition in order to improve the training of snipers
Sally Adee, “Zap Your Brain into the Zone: Fast Track to Pure Focus,” New Scientist, February 6, 2012.
347 first double amputee track athlete ever to compete
Jere Longman, “After Long Road, Nothing Left to Do but Win,” New York Times, August 5, 2012.
348 relay, in which the South African team reached the finals
David Trifunov, “Oscar Pistorius Eliminated in 400m Semifinal at London 2012 Olympics,” Global Post, August 5, 2012.
349 “it is unfair to the able-bodied competitors”
Longman, “After Long Road, Nothing Left to Do but Win.”
350 according to Pistorius
“Oscar Pistorius Apologizes for Timing of Paralympics Criticism,” BBC Sport, September 3, 2012.
351 (EPO)—which regulates the production of red blood cells
“Genetically Modified Olympians?,” Economist, July 31, 2008.
352 delivering more oxygen to the muscles for a longer period of time
Lana Bandoim, “Erythropoietin Abuse Among Athletes Can Lead to Vascular Problems,” Yahoo, December 25, 2011, http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-10747311.
353 He has admitted use of EPO, along with other illegal enhancements
“Landis Admits EPO Use,” ESPN, May 20, 2010, http://www.espn.co.uk/more/sport/story/23635.html.
354 Armstrong was stripped of his championships and banned from cycling
Juliet Macur, “Lance Armstrong Is Stripped of His 7 Tour de France Titles,” New York Times, October 22, 2012
355 use of EPO, steroids, and blood transfusions
“Lance Armstrong Won’t Fight Charges,” ESPN, August 24, 2012.
356 detecting new enhancements that violate the rules
Matthew Knight, “Hi-Tech Tests to Catch Olympics Drug Cheats at London 2012,” CNN, July 31, 2012, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/12/sport/drugs-london-2012-olympics-laboratory/index.html; Andy Bull, “Ye Shiwen’s World Record Olympic Swim ‘Disturbing,’ Says Top US Coach,” Guardian, July 30, 2012.
357 produce more red blood cells
“Fairly Safe,” Economist, July 31, 2008.
358 ruling without genetic testing of the athlete’s relatives
“Genetically Modified Olympians?,” Economist.
359 called myostatin that regulates the building of muscles
Aaron Saenz, “Super Strength Substance (Myostatin) Closer to Human Trials,” Singularity Hub, December 8, 2009.
360 “sperm-making biological machine”
“Artificial Testicle, World’s First to Make Sperm, Under Development by California Scientists,” Huffington Post, January 19, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/artificial-testicle_n_1215964.html.
361 the first so-called test tube baby in 1978, Louise Brown
Donna Bowater, “Lesley Brown, Mother of First Test Tube Baby Louise Brown, Dies Aged 64,” Telegraph, June 21, 2012.
362 debate about the ethics and propriety of the procedure
Robert Bailey, “The Case for Enhancing People,” New Atlantis, June 20, 2012.
363 diminish parental love and weaken generational ties
Ibid.
364 “People want children”
Fiona Macrae, “Death of the Father: British Scientists Discover How to Turn Women’s Bone Marrow into Sperm,” Daily Mail, January 31, 2008.
365 born to infertile people wanting children
Jeanna Bryner, “5 Million Babies Born from IVF, Other Reproductive Technologies,” Live Science, July 3, 2012.
366 I saw this pattern repeated many times
See, for example: Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight and the Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, “Commercialization of Academic Biomedical Research,” June 8–9, 1981; Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, “Genetic Screening and the Handling of High-Risk Groups in the Workplace,” October 14–15, 1981.
367 Dr. Christiaan Barnard
Lawrence K. Altman, “Christiaan Barnard, 78, Surgeon for First Heart Transplant, Dies,” New York Times, September 3, 2001.
368 “My God, it’s working!”
Personal conversation with author.
369 preimplantation genetic diagnosis
“Saviour Siblings—the Controversy and the Technique,” Telegraph, May 6, 2011.
370 “savior sibling”
Ibid.
371 who can serve as an organ
Stephen Wilkinson, “ ‘Saviour Siblings’ as Organ Donors,” Sveriges Yngre Läkares Förening (Swedish junior doctors’ association), November 2, 2012, http://www.slf.se/SYLF/Moderna-lakare/Artiklar/Nummer-2-2012/Saviour-Siblings-as-Organ-Donors/.
372 tissue
Robert Sparrow and David Cram, “Saviour Embryos? Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis as a Therapeutic Technology,” Reproductive BioMedicine Online, May 15, 2010, http://www.ivf.net/ivf/saviour-embryos-preimplantation-genetic-diagnosis-as-a-therapeutic-technology-o5043.html.
373 bone marrow
Josephine Marcotty, “ ‘Savior Sibling’ Raises a Decade of Life-and-Death Questions,” Star Tribune, September 22, 2010.
374 or umbilical cord stem cell donor
“Saviour Siblings—the Controversy and the Technique,” Telegraph.
375 the instrumental purpose of such conceptions devalues the child
Stephen Wilkinson, Choosing Tomorrow’s Children: The Ethics of Selective Reproduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
376 important cure for the first with the assistance of the second
K. Devolder, “Preimplantation HLA Typing: Having Children to Save Our Loved Ones,” Journal of Medical Ethics 31 (January 2005): 582–86.
377 “three-parent babies”
David Derbyshire, “Babies with THREE Parents and Free of Genetic Disease Could Soon Be Born Using Controversial IVF Technique,” Daily Mail, March 12, 2011.
378 genetic modification is one that will affect
James Gallagher, “Three-Person IVF ‘Is Ethical’ to Treat Mitochondrial Disease,” BBC, June 11, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18393682.
379 be left to the pregnant woman herself, at least in the earlier stages of the pregnancy
World Public Opinion, “World Publics Reject Criminal Penalties for Abortion,” June 18, 2008, http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/btjusticehuman_rightsra/492.php.
380 that are designed to identify the gender of the embryo
Rachel Rickard Straus, “To Ensure Prized Baby Boy, Indians Flock to Bangkok,” Times of India, December 27, 2010.
381 abortion of 500,000 female fetuses each year
Madeleine Bunting, “India’s Missing Women,” Guardian, July 22, 2011.
382 better enforce the prohibition against the sex selection of children
“Delhi Govt to Crack Down on Sex-Selection Tests,” Times of India, January 5, 2012.
383 identification procedures in India u
tilize ultrasound machines
Bunting, “India’s Missing Women.”
384 Some couples from India
Straus, “To Ensure Prized Baby Boy, Indians Flock to Bangkok.”
385 blood samples taken from pregnant mothers
“Baby Sex ID Test Won’t Be Sold in China or India Due to Fears of ‘Gender Selection,’ ” Associated Press, August 10, 2011.
386 sample from the pregnant woman and a saliva sample from the father
Andrew Pollack, “DNA Blueprint for Fetus Built Using Tests of Parents,” New York Times, June 6, 2012.
387 an estimated $20,000 to $50,000 for one fetal genome
Ibid.
388 last year, the cost was $200,000 per test
Mara Hvistendahl, “Will Gattaca Come True?,” Slate, April 27, 2012.
389 likely to continue falling very quickly
Ibid.
390 widely available within two years for an estimated $3,000
Stephanie M. Lee, “New Stanford Fetal DNA Test Adds to Ethical Issues,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 2012.
391 serious disorders that might be treated through early detection
Drew Halley, “Revolution In Newborn Screening Saves Newborn Lives,” Singularity Hub, March 10, 2009.
392 are terminating their pregnancies
Ross Douthat, “Eugenics, Past and Future,” New York Times, June 9, 2012.
393 “sophisticated methods of eugenic selection”
Leroi, “The Future of Neo-Eugenics.”
394 embryos for such traits as hair
Hvistendahl, “Will Gattaca Come True?”; Kleiner, “Designer Babies.”
395 and eye color
Kleiner, “Designer Babies.”
396 skin complexion
Ibid.
397 “98.1 percent of death-row inmates do”
David Eagleman, “The Brain on Trial,” Atlantic, July/August 2011.
398 yet another round of difficult ethical choices
Leroi, “The Future of Neo-Eugenics.”
399 markers associated with hundreds of diseases before implantation
Drew Halley, “Prenatal Screening Could Eradicate Genetic Disease, Replace Natural Conception,” Singularity Hub, July 21, 2009.
400 preserved for potential later implantation
Denise Grady, “Parents Torn over the Fate of Frozen Embryos,” New York Times, December 4, 2008.
401 women who undergo the in vitro fertilization procedure
Ibid.; Laura Bell, “What Happens to Extra Embryos After IVF?,” CNN, September 1, 2009, http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-01/health/extra.ivf.embryos_1_embryos-fertility-patients-fertility-clinics?_s=PM:HEALTH.
402 to improve the odds that one will survive
Tiffany Sharples, “IVF Study: Two Embryos No Better Than One,” Time, March 30, 2009.
403 in vitro fertilization than in the general population
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Contribution of Assisted Reproductive Technology and Ovulation-Inducing Drugs to Triplet and Higher-Order Multiple Births—United States, 1980–1997,” MMWR, June 23, 2000.
404 The United Kingdom has set a legal limit on the number of embryos
Sarah Boseley, “IVF Clinics Told to Limit Embryo Implants to Curb Multiple Births,” Guardian, January 6, 2004.
405 Auxogyn, is using digital imaging
Reproductive Science Center, “Auxogyn,” http://rscbayarea.com/for-physicians/auxogyn.
406 select the embryo that is most likely to develop
Yahoo Finance News, “Auxogyn and Hewitt Fertility Center Announce First Availability of New Non-Invasive Early Embryo Viability Assessment (Eeva) Test in the European Union,” September 17, 2012, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/auxogyn-hewitt-fertility-center-announce-060000428.html.
407 to allow the pregnant woman to control the choice on abortion
Leroi, “The Future of Neo-Eugenics.”
408 right to require a pregnant woman to have an abortion
Ibid.
409 so significant that they justify such experiments
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, “Stem Cell Research Around the World,” July 17, 2012, http://www.pewforum.org/Science-and-Bioethics/Stem-Cell-Research-Around-the-World.aspx.
410 Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University
Alok Jha, “Look, No Embryos! The Future of Ethical Stem Cells,” Guardian, March 12, 2011.
411 was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Nicholas Wade, “Cloning and Stem Cell Work Earns Nobel,” New York Times, October 8, 2012.
412 unique qualities and potential that justify their continued use
Andrew Pollack, “Setback for New Stem Cell Treatment,” New York Times, May 13, 2011.
413 restore some vision to mice with an inherited retinal disease
Sarah Boseley, “Medical Marvels: Drugs Treat Symptoms. Stem Cells Can Cure You. One Day Soon, They May Even Stop Us Ageing,” Guardian, January 29, 2009.
414 forms of blindness in humans may soon be treatable
Fergus Walsh, “ ‘Blind’ Mice Eyesight Treated with Transplanted Cells,” BBC, April 18, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17748165.
415 rebuild nerves in the ears of gerbils and restore their hearing
James Gallagher, “Deaf Gerbils ‘Hear Again’ After Stem Cell Cure,” BBC, September 12, 2010.
416 sperm when transplanted into the testicles of mice that were infertile
Nick Collins, “Stem Cells Used to Make Artificial Sperm,” Telegraph, August 4, 2011.
417 though the offspring had genetic defects
Roxanne Khamsi, “Bone Stem Cells Turned into Primitive Sperm Cells,” New Scientist, April 13, 2007.
418 for infertile men to have biological children
Collins, “Stem Cells Used to Make Artificial Sperm.”
419 lesbian couples to have children that are genetically and biologically their own
Macrae, “Death of the Father.”
420 increase human lifespans by multiple centuries
Aubrey de Grey, “ ‘We Will Be Able to Live to 1,000,’ ” BBC, December 3, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4003063.stm.
421 25 percent is more likely
Gary Taubes, “The Timeless and Trendy Effort to Find—or Create—the Fountain of Youth,” Discover Magazine, February 7, 2011.
422 According to most experts, evolutionary theory
Nir Barzilai et al., “The Place of Genetics in Ageing Research,” Nature Reviews Genetics 13 (August 2012): 589–94.
423 numerous studies in human
James W. Curtsinger, “Genes, Aging, and Prospects for Extended Life Span,” Minnesota Medicine, October 2007.
424 and animal genetics
Ibid.
425 roughly three quarters to the aging process
Barzilai et al., “The Place of Genetics in Ageing Research.”
426 somewhere between 20 and 30 percent
Ibid.
427 extreme caloric restriction extends the lives of rodents dramatically
Taubes, “The Timeless and Trendy Effort to Find—or Create—the Fountain of Youth.”
428 adjustment has the same effect on longevity in humans
Gina Kolata, “Severe Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life, at Least in Monkeys,” New York Times, August 30, 2012.
429 rhesus monkeys do not live longer with severe caloric restrictions
Ibid.
430 experts on all sides point out, between longevity and aging
Roger B. McDonald and Rodney C. Ruhe, “Aging and Longevity: Why Knowing the Difference Is Important to Nutrition Research,” Nutrients 3 (2011): 274–82.
431 to slow or reverse unwanted manifestations of the aging process
Gretchen Voss, “The Risks of Anti-Aging Me
dicine,” CNN, March 30, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/health/age-youth-treatment-medication/index.html; Dan Childs, “Growth Hormone Ineffective for Anti-Aging, Studies Say,” ABC News, January 16, 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ActiveAging/story?id=2797099&page=1#.UGDZ3Y40jdk.
432 most prominently, testosterone
“Anti-Aging Hormones: Little or No Benefit and the Risks Are High, According to Experts,” ScienceDaily, April 13, 2010, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413121326.htm.
433 genetic factors that can be used to extend longevity in others
Barzilai et al., “The Place of Genetics in Ageing Research.”
434 over the last century have come from improvements in sanitation
Robert Kunzig, “7 Billion: How Your World Will Change,” National Geographic, November 1, 2011.
435 about one extra year per decade
Curtsinger, “Genes, Aging, and Prospects for Extended Life Span.”
436 Much of this work is now focused on malaria, tuberculosis
United Nations, Millennium Development Goals Report 2011.
437 HIV/AIDS, influenza
George Verikios et al., “The Global Economic Effects of Pandemic Influenza,” paper prepared for the 14th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Venice, June 16–18, 2011, https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/5291.pdf.
438 viral pneumonia
Olli Ruuskanen, Elina Lahti, Lance C Jennings, and David R Murdoch, “Viral Pneumonia,” Lancet 377 (2011): 1264–75.
439 and multiple so-called “neglected tropical diseases”
Dr. Lorenzo Savioli, World Health Organization, “Neglected Tropical Diseases: Letter from the Director,” 2011, http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/director/en/index.html.
440 In 2012, the number fell to 1.7 million
Deena Beasley and Tom Miles, “AIDS Deaths Worldwide Dropping as Access to Drugs Improves,” July 18, 2012, Reuters.
441 reduce the infection rate continue to be focused on preventive education
Avert, “Introduction to HIV Prevention,” http://www.avert.org/prevent-hiv.htm.
442 the distribution of condoms in high-risk areas
United Nations Population Fund, Preventing HIV/AIDS, “Comprehensive Condom Programming: A Strategic Response to HIV and AIDS,” http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/programming.htm.