Argumentative Essay: The Ethical Issue Of Genetic Screening

Have you ever asked yourself is it possible to pick and choose your kids characteristics and appearance? If you ever have thought about this topic it is called designer babies and the technology used to do this is called CRISPR. In 2015 scientists in China tried to modify human embryos so that they could edit the genes of the embryos.(OI) This test failed horribly with all 86 of the embryos dying.(OI) Many people hope that one day designer babies will be a thing. I disagree with genetically modifying humans because in the bible it states, “God made you perfectly in his own image.”

Legally this could cause many problems and issues because although this could help many things could go wrong as well and potentially not work and end the child's life or if they do end up getting diseases parents can start sueing for a lot of money and can make the gene modifying seen as a bad thing entirely.

Designing children should not be taken lightly and used for extreme cases. Using it for simple things such as eye and hair color wastes this discovery and lessens the impact and thinks it's okay. It's amazing and amazing to be able to pick the gender or color of things on your children, but should we really waste such an amazing thing on simple

An important aspect which comes to the terms of making laws and prohibition of the ability to design or genetically modify your child revolves around the matter of ethics. Very controversial subject when you're being asked to speak on behalf of millions of people on what is right and wrong. In one article Embryo.ase.edu/pages/ethics-designer-babies they make sure to include a few scenarios that can help us define what ‘crossing the line’ would be. For example, when asked if being able to design babies is ethical you have to know who's the parent or guardian behind this. Being able to dispose of unwanted traits like obesity for example can be considered as ethical because it can cause health related problems in the future. Some would argue that this trait is something that can be avoided without the use of genetic engineering, which can be avoided sometimes yes, but is difficult and requires a

When having a baby, the physical appearance cannot be determined until birth, but what if advancements in technology could allow you to do so? Dr. James Hughes suggests the idea of allowing parents to have the option to choose their kids physical attributes. In order for this to take place, a child’s DNA would have to be mutated in the early months of conception. To many people this may seem superficial, but the roots of this idea could go much deeper. Changing a child’s DNA early in its life could allow for the possibility to prevent diseases such as cancer and Huntington’s disease. This process known as gene therapy and consists different treatments such as “replacing a mutated gene that cause disease with a healthy copy of a gene, knocking out a mutated gene that is functioning improperly, or introducing a new gene to help fight against diseases” (Gene Therapy). This discovery is not only limited to unborn babies, but would be also performed for adults too. Even though some scientist and doctors have the ability to do this the question always arises, should they do this? Changing the DNA of a child or even an adult is a huge controversial topic that several organizations fight over. So where is the fine line between altering DNA ethical and unethical?

People have the right to genetically engineer their children so it should not be banned. Jeffrey Kahn, a bioethicist, says that parents will someday test genes to give their children preferable traits like intelligence,strong immune systems, and string muscles. These are desirable by many people, so its wrong to ban these tests. Many people want a child of a specific gender as well. In fact, gender clinics say that more than 90% of couples after gender selection already have three or more children all of the same gender and want at least one of the opposite gender. Is it wrong for couples to want a child of a specific gender? Also, children with certain blood diseases like anemia need blood transfusion extremely often. the parents can eliminate these diseases in their next child and match the tissues so they can transplant the healthy child’s stem cells

Genetic Enhancement could be one of the reasons that you use it on the child, “Parents want the perfect child. They want to be able to choose what they will look like as well as other characteristics such as intelligence and athleticism. Today, this is not yet possible, however, technology and our knowledge of genes continues to advance at a fast rate, raising concerns about our future.” (Designer Babies: Genetic Mutation) “Some parents believe that changing the DNA shouldn’t be allowed to happen, for many reasons. New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer told Business Insider previously, "I haven't seen anybody give a legitimate medical reason for changing the human embryos that couldn't be achieved through other means” “If we do allow germline editing, some worry that it could lead to the creation of "designer babies” whose DNA has been carefully selected to enhance their appearance, intelligence, or other traits that are not medically necessary.” (Business Insider) People who agree with the changing of the DNA v.s.People who disagree with the changing of the DNA in a baby. The reason that seventy-two percent of people disagree with the changing of the DNA of the baby is the people who believe that the changing the DNA is not natural or it does not agree with their religion. The reason the other twenty-eight agree with the

That is the main ethical issue of the debate. The fear, as always, is that we may eventually go too far. Such as creating the dreaded “designer babies” whose appearance, IQ, and abilities will be customized to the parents’ arbitrary desire (Pinker). Ultimately, genetic modification will limit the children’s freedom to shape their own destiny. The increasing societal control over the characteristics of humans while failing to value other traits over others could possibly increase the intolerance of diversity. For

In the past, eugenics was a popular science used to improve the human population by selecting desirable traits and characteristics. Eugenics aims to improve human genetic traits by advocating sexual reproduction for people who have desirable traits. Current technology and advancement has made eugenics more popular today than it ever has been in the past. Furthermore, individuals can personally customize their child’s genetic makeup by either eliminating a particular defect or to ensure that a certain trait is present. This practice, known as designing babies, is a form of eugenics that is currently happening regularly and many question whether it is either ethical or unethical. Although there are many positives and negatives to designing babies, many fear that the process will eventually be abused. Eugenics is an interesting and diverse topic to analyze and discuss, and by immersing oneself into such a topic, society can understand how to eliminate undesirable traits and deformities by using eugenics as well as moral objections and concerns.

The issue at hand is that scientists are in a period of enlightenment with the human genome and with no standard line of ethics pertaining to editing human embryos in research development other countries are taking liberty to beat around the bush to explore this concept of eugenics. After the cloning of dolly the goat and China cloning two monkeys without a genetic blood disease through a process called CISPR society are asking the same question. Are scientists taking this too far before it is ready? Anyone who plans on reproducing or has genetic diseases in their family may want to consider a side in this debate because they may find themselves with the option of “editing” their baby with the ideal gene pool. This issue is prevalent because the entire world is tempering with human genes and is working towards introducing a whole new set of humans by this technology. Gene manipulation is an important topic because of the ethical and spiritual beliefs that it challenge. Changing genetic material to where there is no disease would affect the entire next population of humans and their future children. While scientists now know how to change our physical traits and handicaps they cannot take out traits like ambitiousness which is what makes manipulating the human genome so dangerous. The risks is that this chase for curing disease could turn into a quest for the ideal human where in the future parents can grocery shop their child or countries can create the ultimate human race.

Science is a field of study that has progressed over the years. Humans have advanced in ways that even our own ancestors could not imagine. It was over 350 years ago that a cell was first discovered by humans. Now, scientists have mapped the entire genome of humans and even other organisms. Why might this be important? With this accomplishment, scientists can now peer into a person and see their genetic makeup or rather their “identity.” This information in hand, scientists can find genes for specific traits or abnormalities. However, with this technology, there are ethical problems that are associated with it. Should humans have the power to select what genes an offspring should have and if so what specific genes can they alter? Should humans have the power to “play God?” These questions indeed are difficult to answer. Regardless, this issue must be addressed for the unborn children who will be involved in this ongoing controversy.

Should parent be allowed to genetically engineer their children? : The ethical dilemma of designer babies.

Customizing my own child immediately sounds unethical and synthetic but once I think about, many pros are present and only a few cons arise. Some could argue that, given the chance, not customizing your own child is unethical. Some would argue that it is unnatural and goes against God’s plan but when someone gets cancer, they do all they can to beat it. Most people get shots, immunities, antibiotics, cancer treatment, etc.. all to protect/heal themselves. I see nothing wrong with a step further. If you were to have a baby and you had had to press a button; the button on the left says, “Your child will have no mutations, defects, or anything else that impairs your and/or their life abnormally”, the button on the right says, “There is a 3% chance

The “designer baby” concept is controversial because of the moral platform the term falls on and the ethical dilemmas it brings. There are many debates surrounding the advantages and the disadvantages for the creation of ‘designer babies’. One of the main benefits is the possibility of lowering the risk of certain inherited medical conditions and genetic diseases being passed on. These include Down Syndrome, Alzheimer’s, obesity, cancer, anemia and many others. On the contrary, it highlights challenges and issues with the child’s identity, and the societal divide and impact on civilization.

With new technologies available everyday, it seems almost as if we can customize our children. Reproduction is no longer an outcome of random and inherited genes, but now it’s a process of creating the child that we want to have. Fertility clinics are in debate as to whether or not it is ethical to be able to determine the sex of our children. Some view this as a valid option, while others see it as another step down the road to designer babies. But how far is too far? That is a question that we can only answer for ourselves. While this article remains unbiased, we are able to form our own opinion after seeing the pros and cons of both sides.