Mothers, and not the authorities, should have the right to make decisions about genetic issues concerning their children, Dr James Watson, the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix said in Dublin last night.
He said children were born with disabilities because of an "accidental genetic mistake" and not because of an act of God.
"A handicapped child is born because of an accidental genetic mistake. No one in the sky has made the decision that this woman is going to have a handicapped child. So I would just think common sense would say she shouldn't have to bear this cross," he said.
Dr Watson was speaking in Trinity College Dublin at a lecture marking the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA's double helix, the human genetic code.
He said genetics was, in a sense, all about having healthier, better children. "Who should make the decisions as to what is healthy or what is better? I think the mothers - and listen to the father if he's about," he said.
"So, I think all such decisions, like . . . 'do I want to find out if my child will be handicapped?' should be the choice of the woman. No one should tell her that she has to take the test. But hopefully she would know that the test exists," he said. This knowledge would be the basis of an educated society.
Some people may think this was too important an issue to leave in the hands of women, Dr Watson said. "I don't think men would do much good nor do I think would governmental bodies," he said.
"We saw the disaster that happened in Nazi Germany when the State decided it would make all the genetic decisions."
Similarly, people, rather than the authorities, should decide how genetic knowledge was used. "Common sense" and education were the key factors when considering how genetic knowledge should be used to benefit society.
"Human beings have an underlying sense of right and wrong and, you know, everyone needs life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," he said.
Some people got good throws of the genetic dice. Others didn't. It would be good if we could try to improve the odds of getting a good throw of the genetic dice, Dr Watson said. This could be done by adding genes, but it was not yet possible to do this safely.
The probability of a mouse getting cancer could be lowered by adding genes. "Why not do the same with humans? It seems to me it's common sense."
He did not see how people could be offended by the use of genetics to improve lives. "I think it's going against human nature to say that people should not try and improve their lives."
However, Dr Onora O'Neill, principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, said genetics was surrounded by complex, ethical issues. "And I don't know whether common sense is enough."
She said "enthusiasts and scaremongers" could be complicating the issue while more important ethical questions were being ignored. The crucial questions had much more to do with the use of information.
For example, criminal genetic databases should not be used in medical studies where consent had not been sought, she said. That area was generally well regulated. A more sensitive issue was that of DNA information stored in databases.
"These are the areas that I think we have got the most difficult thinking in the decade ahead. Thinking about which sort of databases is it acceptable to have people construct, for what purposes, with what access, and by whom?"
Dr O'Neill paid tribute to Dr Watson for being "a crucial voice" in keeping the work of the human genome project in the public domain.
Dr Watson was invited to Dublin by the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at TCD, and Science Foundation Ireland, in association with The Irish Times and the Irish Science Teachers' Association.
He said it was fitting that he was addressing the topic of genetics in Dublin. Some 60 years ago, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger gave a lecture in Dublin entitled "What is Life?", later printed as a book. The points raised by the physicist caused a young Dr Watson to decide to "find the mystery of the gene", he said.
When he and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, they were "just surprised it was so simple and wonderful", he said. "It was almost scary, it was so beautiful."
Also last night, Dr Watson presented prizes to the winners of the DNA Times competition. The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, announced them as: Ruth Waldron, Ella Tyrrell and Victoria Shevlin from the Dominican College, Galway.
