Interjecting this at the top so it doesn't get lost: The author puts forward the best argument I have ever heard regarding morality of reproductive cloning in theory: Identical twins are reproductive clones of one another. They are regarded as distinct people with distinct souls in most cultures. A clone of you would simply have the same set of genes, and be far more different than any identical twin, due to the difference in cultures of when you both grew up.
More on the subject of looking back at the author looking forward:
Regarding the technology of sequencing the human genome, the author references two companies - US Genome and Affymetrix. US Genome's most recent patent is 2005, although they claim to still be developing methods. While the author focuses on its potential applications to sequencing the human genome quickly and efficiently particularly in regards to embryonic modifications, it appears to have branched into more currently profitable pursuits such as pathogenesis analysis. On the other hand, Affymetrix has improved its human genome detection kits from 100,000 sequence points to 629,000 base pair points (prices not available online, so I can't compare those, but probably similar or cheaper than in 2005).
To date, we are not really any farther along in embryonic testing. We can test for more genetic diseases as we find the associated genes, but the technology itself has not changed significantly. The Recombinant Advisory Commission (RAC) ruled in 1999 that in-utero gene therapy could affect reproductive cells and be passed on to subsequent generations. I was astonished that the author did not point out that in the future, this could be one of the advantages of the gene therapy [note: he does imply something similar later]. He does state that amniocentesis testing can help screen for down syndrome and other genetic factors, but stops short of suggesting that we could use gene therapy to eliminate unwanted genes from the gene pool while still carrying the child. As an example, a non-color-blind girl (gen2) born to a color-blind father (gen1) will necessarily carry a recessive gene for color-blindness. As it is, any male descendants (gen3) of the girl will carry a 50-50 chance of being color-blind. We could use gene therapy to correct the recessive color-blind gene at generation 2 and remove those genes from the pool. Any color-blindness that results after that is the result of spontaneous mutations, not inherited factors.
As a side note to the chapter above, the RAC stated in 1999 that the technology was not specific enough to consider in-utero genetic therapy as safe. They have not yet changed their stance, but they indicated at that time that given advancements in technology, such therapy could be reconsidered.
Link: http://oba.od.nih.gov/oba/rac/racinutero.pdf
General link to RAC documents: http://oba.od.nih.gov/rdna/rdna_resources.html
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