RE: How much do people care about their own health? (Was: do republicans/politic

[Ronn! Blankenship]

At 11:12 AM 12/23/02 -0500, Jon Gabriel wrote:

From: Ronn! Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: How much do people care about their own health? (Was: do
republicans/politicians care...)
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 23:45:35 -0600

At 12:51 AM 12/18/02 -0500, Jon Gabriel wrote:

Deborah Harrell wrote:
><serious>
>As someone who does have a spontaneous mutation that,
>if passed on, has a 50/50 chance of causing mental
>retardation, various cancers and behavioral deficits,
>this is not an academic issue for me.  At the time
>that I would have considered starting a family with
>the right man, there were no prenatal tests available;
>after a great deal of painful consideration, I chose
>not to have children.

Jon Gabriel wrote:
I've never seen statistics on this, but I would expect that yours would
be the most common choice.  I know a couple who went through in-vitro
four times to make sure they didn't pass on a genetic defect.

How much did they spend on those procedures? Can every couple in their situation afford them?

Hi Ronn,

Extremely busy today, so my responses may be a bit disjointed. :)

There is no way that everyone would be able to afford in-vitro. I believe the average cost was something along the lines of $10,000 per procedure.
So, it isn't unaffordable, but it does require a significant outlay. If a couple is determined to have children, then in-vitro is available to them if they can pay for it.

Actually, it was supposed to be a sort of rhetorical question, to the effect that most of us can't afford that option.

An interesting concept: the wealthy may soon be able to determine human evolution -- or reshape it to an image most favorable to them.

I suppose one could say that they always have, though up until now the methods have generally been less direct and more brutal . . .



--Ronn! :)

I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle


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