STANFORD — The UK pro-life organization SPUC publicized a BBC news item last month indicating U.S. and Swiss doctors believe they will one day be able to reverse the symptoms of Down's Syndrome. The late, renowned geneticist Dr. Jerome LeJeune, who in 1959 discovered the genetic cause of Down's syndrome, was also convinced that a treatment for Down's was possible.
The researchers referred to in the BBC report, Professor William Mobley, from Stanford University, and his colleagues, say they have found a gene which is responsible for mental impairment. They are researching whether a drug could eventually be developed to reactivate the part of the brain that is affected by Down's. However, they stress that their work has a long way to go before any results might be seen.
Dr. Lejeune gained international fame in 1958 when he discovered the Trisomy 21 genetic defect responsible for Down's Syndrome. Although the world-famous researcher believed a cure or treatment was possible, he was sadly unable to obtain the funding required to complete the necessary research that he continued with limited resources for many years.
The majority of Dr. LeJeune's funding came from parents, extended families and friends of Down's children. A wider interest was just not there for a condition that the medical and research establishment preferred to respond to with abortion rather than treatment. Better search-and-destroy techniques have received the emphasis in order to more effectively diagnose Down's pre-borns at early stages so that they could be aborted. Currently in developed nations a large percentage of Down's children are identified and killed before birth.
Professor William Mobley and his associates may also find that the now highly developed and routine search-and-destroy techniques will make it difficult to find research funds for a condition that is simply disposed of via abortion.
See also:
Down's Syndrome Gene “Exciting”
Will There Ever Be a Cure for Down's Syndrome?
400 Healthy Children Aborted Per Year Due to Down's Suspicion
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
