Medical treatment & limiting homosexuality

[tomm2thumbs]

Medical treatment carries possible side effect of limiting homosexuality

A prenatal pill for congenital adrenal hyperplasia to prevent ambiguous genitalia may reduce the chance that a female with the disorder will be gay. Critics call it engineering for sexual orientation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-adrenal-20100815,0,5576220.story
Los Angeles Times: Sunday, August 15, 2010

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Didn't want to post only snips of story as it is worth a full read for context... to see where this is heading.

[RKP5637]

1. I don't know about in my lifetime, but I think we will one day see a

genetically engineered human race, and that will be a sad day for all. We're on some very strange paths. IMO, I would like to see a cure for RW brain disorders.

[pnwmom]

2. I don't see the problem with treating a hormonal disorder.

And I doubt that it will affect the girls' future orientation. The vast majority of lesbians have normal genitalia.

[TriMera]

3. The implications are horrendous!

They not only involve the possibility of controlling sexual orientation, but also have the possibility of altering behavior in an even broader sense. In reading this article and others that I have seen, it looks like it is sort of a double whammy. Genetically engineering a "cure" for lesbianism and creating whole new generations of Stepford Wives. Also, from everything that I have read and, the LA Times article seems to agree, the drug doesn't really treat the CAH itself with prenatal application. These implications combined with the prenatal risks involved make the entire discussion of medical ethics completely moot. The whole thing is junk science at best and dangerous and horrific medicine at worst. Dr. New should not be trusted to conduct medical research, let alone treat patients.IMHO.

[xchrom]

4. I think scientists will find themselves scratching their heads

At the things that things that will cause arousal and sexual
Activity in teens -- or grown ups.

[struggle4progress]

5. "... Studies have not yet been conducted to examine whether the hormone treatment would reduce the

rate of lesbianism ..."

So we've got a rightwing rag, the LAT, suggesting results that have not actually been produced by any study to date while discussing the implications of Maria New's research, though Maria New "declined to be interviewed for this report"

How to treat hormonal problems in children will continue to be controversial, I expect. A very short friend of mine one said she had been given growth hormones as a child and thought it had messed her up, and a general practitioner once commented to me about the problems he thought were associated with precocious birth control pill use by girls in early adolescence. I don't expect that controversies regarding in utero hormonal manipulations will be easily resolved. And I somehow doubt the LAT will shed much light on such matters