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The morality of patents on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis

Nature Biotechnology volume 32, pages 319–320 (2014)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

Laura DeFrancesco's news story in the January issue on 23andMe's 'designer baby' patent brings up challenging moral questions related to patent law1. The patent describes a method for predicting the phenotypes of human offspring based on genetic characteristics of embryos2. The method could be employed by couples who are planning to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)—the genetic testing of embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) before implantation—to avoid the birth of a child likely to develop a genetic disease3,4.

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Acknowledgements

DISCLAIMER: This article is the work product of an employee or group of employees of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, the statements, opinions or conclusions contained therein do not necessarily represent the statements, opinions or conclusions of NIEHS, NIH or the United States government.

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  1. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    David B Resnik

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  1. David B Resnik
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Correspondence to David B Resnik.

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Resnik, D. The morality of patents on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Nat Biotechnol 32, 319–320 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2865

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