Letter: Scientific origins of 'genetic pornography'

To suggest that the child's interests are always paramount when considering the abortion of a foetus with a genetic abnormality following prenatal screening is patently untrue in most cases. I wonder if Lewis Wolpert personally knows any people with Down's Syndrome or any of the other common genetic disorders, and has he asked them for their opinion? Further, to suggest, as he does, that the issue of abortion should be kept quite separate from discussions about genetics is clearly nonsensical.

It is equally difficult to see how he can reassure readers aboutgermline therapy stating that "there is no question of such treatment altering the germ cells and so being passed on to future generations", and then go on to admit that "recent work on human embryonic cells makes it possible, in principle, to alter the genetic nature of humans".

Nicolas Blitz

Aberdeen, Grampian