Complications Of Embryo Selection In Frankenstein : Ethical Choices

The term ‘designer babies’ arouses both excitement and fear worldwide; most envision a future where the intellect, health, and physical traits of a child can be chosen on demand, without realizing that designer babies are actually already among us. According to Dr. Ronald Pang, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong, the term “designer babies” encapsulates both babies who were selected for a specific gene by preimplantation genetic diagnosis and those whose embryos were genetically modified before implantation (Pang). This paper will focus on the former type of designer babies: those created by preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In contrast to genetically modified embryos, PGD does not alter DNA and instead selects an embryo for the presence of a specific gene. PGD is offered by 74 percent of in vitro fertilization clinics, but is still a controversial technology due to its various applications including disease diagnosis, trait selection, and sex-selection (Davis). Upon considering two major concerns surrounding PGD—tampering with nature and playing God—as well as the overarching benefits and drawbacks of this technology, couples should be not be permitted to use preimplantation genetic diagnosis to select an embryo in any circumstance.

There are several major issues discussed in the book Frankenstein and The Critics, but the one that catches the eyes of many people is abortion. This comes up several time throughout the book, when Victor Frankenstein decided to kill the other creature he was making and ended up throwing it in the ocean. If Victor would have finished the wife of the creature, it would have completely changed the entire situation of the book. As Victor started to create another creature he came to the conclusion that he no longer wanted to create it anymore. “Many abortions are performed because they are unplanned” (Abrams, 183). Just because something is unplanned does not mean we can just ignore it and get rid of it. If anything we need to embrace the unplanned. We cannot go around killing people or creatures who have not been born yet.

Day by day, an accretion of advancements and improvements are formed across the world. Prominent developments occur rapidly, like the use and creation of technology. Technology has and continues to create an immense effect on how we live our daily lives. Its use is ranged from how information is found, travel, communication, and more. However, the advancements of technology seems to interfere with the circle of natural life, life that is brought into our world. It has changed the lives of unborn children, whom are in the form of an embryo. Altered by a new technique and process of genetic modification, that is commonly referred to as “Designer Babies”. This genetic modification, genetically modifies the DNA of an embryo to achieve desirable traits amongst them. It changes an unborn babies development and future life. While it may seem that designer babies can be a positive life change, there are negative effects that outweigh, due to the fact that it goes against human nature; genetic probability, expectations, diversity, and religious prospects.

Background When Frankenstein was adapted for stage in 1823 the production's title was Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein. A Victorian audience was concerned with the theme of a man's ambition to replace God by creating a new species. Equal emphasis was placed on this aspect of the novel in the 1831 introduction of Frankenstein, "It is Mary Shelly's critique of where such highly abstracted creative powers can lead when put in a 'realizing' scientific context and then driven along by 'lofty ambition' and 'high destiny' (Shelley, 2004, 204) that we see in the pages of Frankenstein" The novel was controversial in that it went against the traditional religious ideas of the time; Victorian morality held that God was the Almighty Creator. However, modern readers, with less restricted moral boundaries to those of the Victorians, likely see Victor's main crime within the novel more the perverse way in which the creation is carried out and more importantly Victor's failure to nurture the offspring; his crime is against the traditional framework of the family (Feldman and Scott-Kilvert, 1987).

Todays transplants are morally and religiously accepted because you are extending a life that society is already known too, but Frankenstein’s experiment today, still wouldn’t be accepted because you are giving life to something that we have no knowledge of how it will interact with society and not created by god. The crucial part here is that there has never been a brain transplant conducted. Today’s patients with transplants maintain their knowledge and memories. Frankenstein’s monster does not. He was made from scratch and and very different than the human species, so different that the humans couldn’t accept him nor could he accept himself. “Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings. Soon after my arrival in the hovel

Even though Mr. Frankenstein was not clinically insane, his actions did perpetrate one who is. Victor Frankenstein was a mad scientist. In attempting to play God, his experiment back fired causing the death of his loved ones. “I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit”, said victor. His passion and obsession led him to commit unethical experiments and become absent to his family. For an extended period of time he isolated himself from society and dedicated his time in attempt to resurrect the dead. Victor became ignorant and did not think clearly of his actions and its results. Most importantly he did not own up to it. Because of his actions, an innocent woman was hung to death. Yet, he had many opportunities to take

Knowledge is power, but power does not necessarily mean knowledge. Although Frankenstein had a lot of knowledge, he was unable to control the creature and shows clones will not fit into our society because people will not be able to control them, strip the people of their individuality and bring back the loves one necessarily . If people were able to make clones of themselves, they will never be able to fit into our society. Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, Frankenstein was able to bring a dead body to life, but he was not able to fit into the world of the humans. Knowing that the creature did not fit into the world, then clones will not be able to fit into the world either.

The process of creating life by handpicking a beings attributes and combining them to create a seemingly perfect human is a notion that is often related to the fictional work of Dr. Frankenstein. It is a surprise in its self that such a process is not in reality fictional, but an actual method of procreating infants in today’s modern day. Designer Babies, the end result of a scientific process that allows parents to preselect the genetic make up of their offspring, ensuring the disinheritance of a birth defect or guaranteeing the presence of a particular gene (Oxford Dictionaries 3). The process its self is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or embryo screening. Embryo Screening is as follows, a three-day-old embryo is taken and one

conceive another child also comes with the responsibility of having to provide care to the

New technological advances and scientific methods continue to change the course of nature. One of the current controversial advances in science and technology is the use of genetically modified embryos in which the study exceeds stem cell research. Scientists have begun planning for research involving human embryos in the genetic modification field. Many technological developments are responsible for improving our living standards and even saving lives, but often such accomplishments have troubling cultural and moral ramifications (Reagan, 2015). We are already beyond the days in which virtually the only procreative option was for a man and a woman to conceive the old-fashioned way (Reagan, 2015). Genetic modification of human embryos can be perceived as a positive evolution in the medical process yet it is surrounded by controversy due to ethical processes. Because this form of genetic modification could affect later born children and their offspring, the protection of human subjects should be a priority in decisions about whether to proceed with such research (Dresser, 2004). The term Human Genetic Engineering was originally made public in 1970. During this time there were several methods biologists began to devise in order to better identify or isolate clone genes for manipulation in several species or mutating them in humans.

In today’s society, we as 21st-century human beings have loads of technological advancements. We today have luxuries our ancestries would never have imagined. Since the 1950’s humankind was made significant strides in the endeavors of science and technology. The microwave, the World Wide Web, automobiles, and smartphones are just a few examples of the daily advances that had. However, some developments are more controversial than others. Controversial topics include vaccines, stem cell research, GMOs, and the safety of Nuclear power. A new development that is picking up a lot of attention is the ability to edit the human embryos, more commonly known as “Designer babies.” Genetic Modification can make the thought of being able to create a 'perfect' child a reality. “Designer babies” are basically babies that have been genetically modified. All though I personally am for a lot of the scientific progress over the years, this is a subject I cannot agree with. Genetically modified offspring is morally reprehensible and should not be allowed.

The term “designer baby” is defined as an embryo that’s genes been modified with the intent of the DNA resulting in specific characteristics. A procedure or option for genetically modifying an unborn child should be legal. It is a controversial topic due to the two sides in which modification can result in; the medical purpose and the cosmetic purpose. While the public strongly agrees with the ethical and medical purposes, it is apparent not may agree with the cosmetic idea (Franklin & Roberts, An Ethnography of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis).

The possibility of a designer perfect baby, is closer to becoming a reality then at the beginning of this millennium. The term that was added to the dictionary in 2004 (Lerner, 2012), refers to a baby developing from an embryo created by in-vitro fertilization and selected because it had or lacked particular genes, the genetic makeup often having been modified by genetic engineering. The impacts and issues with genetic engineering are unquestionably evident. Scientists are gaining more knowledge on this subject each and every day, but the The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs released a statement in 1994 in support of using genetic selection as a means to prevent, cure or specific diseases, but that selection based on benign characteristics was not ethical. (Ly, 2012) This technology is far from being a reality, due to their lack of genetic enhancement knowledge. Designer babies are close to being possible, but is not an option yet.

An invention can destroy something so precious and turn it into a dangerous weapon. But some inventions can literally be a lifesaver. Many of them are regretted today. Invention holds a numerous amount of definitions. An invention is “an act or instance of creating or producing the exercise of the imagination, especially in art, music, etc”, (dictionary.com). Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is about a man named Victor Frankenstein who creates a monster from spare body parts. He thought it was going to look beautiful but instead looked hideous. So, Victor hated his creation and abandoned it. Then it soon became a murderer and destroyed all the people that Victor loved. Victor later than becomes sick and dies. The creature decided there is no point in living, so he kills himself. Many inventors and inventions go through the same process. Fetal tissue is tissue from an aborted fetus. It is then implanted in a person as a treatment for a disease. With the invention of fetal tissue research and implants, it has caused many positive and negative outlooks in our society. This process was able to save and destroy lives.

New technological advances and scientific methods continue to change the course of nature. One of the current controversial advances in science and technology is the use of genetically modified embryos in which the study exceeds stem cell research. Scientists have begun planning for research involving human embryos in the genetic modification field. Many technological developments are responsible for improving our living standards and even saving lives, but often such accomplishments have troubling cultural and moral ramifications (Reagan, 2015). We are already beyond the days in which virtually the only procreative option was for a man and a woman to conceive the old-fashioned way (Reagan, 2015). Genetic modification of human embryos can be perceived as a positive evolution in the medical process yet it is surrounded by controversy due to ethical processes. Because this form of genetic modification could affect later born children and their offspring, the protection of human subjects should be a priority in decisions about whether to proceed with such research (Dresser, 2004). The term Human Genetic Engineering was originally made public in 1970. During this time there were several methods biologists began to devise in order to better identify or isolate clone genes for manipulation in several species or mutating them in humans.