"Since it is easy to check, one should realize that failure to check one's self would be like closing one's eyes before that which one could see. G-d forbid, such an event would cause the child's parents extraordinary pain, and so it would be appropriate for a man who wished to wed a woman to test himself. It would be good to publicize this in newspapers and other media, to alert people that there is such a test."
כיון
שעתה נעשה זה באופן קל לבדוק יש לדון שאם אינו בודק את עצמו הוא כסגירת העינים
לראות מה שאפשר לראות, ומכיון שאם ח"ו אירע דבר כזה הוא להורי הילד צער גדול
מאד מן הראוי למי שצריך לישא אשה לבדוק את עצמו. ולכן טוב לפרסם הדבר ע"י
עתונים ואופנים שידעו העולם שאיכא בדיקה כזו.
(Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe Even haEzer 4:10)
Have a great day,
Mordechai
Tangential: Testing does not eliminate the gene, "only" the possibility of producing someone with the disease. Actually, it creates slightly more carriers than otherwise -- think of it as the two copies of the gene that would have died r"l with a single victim that now end up in two carriers and their children.
ReplyDeleteSo, this is a burden we must accept from generation to generation until we learn how to break the gene with engineering. May G-d grant those doing such research wisdom and success!