Genetic Engineering: Making a Gamble Less Risky

Imagine a world where having a baby was like looking through a menu at some fancy restaurant. Imagine being able to choose how a baby will look and act. As mind-boggling as it sounds, scientists and researchers came across an unbelievable discovery: it is possible to design and edit a baby however a person may like. Hanson asserts that personality, gender, appearance, intelligence, hair color, and height can be changed using technology that was originally used for animals (Hanson). These babies are called designer babies. Phillip Ball, a science writer, claims that it is possible to change the genetic makeup of an unborn baby using bio-technology. However, these changes can have more negative effects than positive. Although most countries have not legislated the use of genetic modification, studies have been done on human embryos in China (Ball).

Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary

What if there was a future where having a child was as simple as selecting desirable genes out of a catalogue? A future where technology granted parents the ability to design and perfect their children. The notion of “Designer Babies” seems absurd; however the rapid development of technology and the potential of gene manipulation could make this a startling reality.

The escalating supremacy and receptiveness of genetic technology to engineer and "design babies," now gives parents the option to modify their unborn children, consecutively to prevent their offspring's from receiving genetic disorders such as: "sickle cell diseases, cystic fibrosis and down syndrome ," or conceivably, make them blue eye coloured, intelligent or else blessed with enviable qualities. Would this mean there will be an increase in the superiority among the rich, both physically and mentally, or will this modification be available for all to exploit, or would we be evidencing engineered babies facing unexpected genetic predicament? The highly contentious issue of designing unborn children to be a perfect "epitome" is thoroughly investigated and examined in the article of, lead author of

Chan School of Public Health revealed that “Roughly one in four Americans (26%) think changing the genes of unborn babies should be legal to reduce their risk of developing certain serious diseases, while 65 percent think it should be illegal.” (Harvard 1) The prospect of engineering a child, however, is not as far-fetched as one may believe. Sarah Ly explains in her article for The Embryo Project Encyclopedia that “IVF has become an increasingly common procedure to help couples with infertility problems conceive children, and the practice of IVF confers the ability to pre-select embryos before implantation. For example, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) allows viable embryos to be screened for various genetic traits, such as sex-linked diseases, before implanting them in the mother.”. (Sara Ly) Though it is an unpopular position to hold, many modern families would fight for their reproductive rights because their families would not have been possible without the aid of medical intervention. In an early and well-known case of gender selection, Monique and Scott Collins visited doctors at the Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, in 1996 for in vitro fertilization. Monique and Scott Collins desired to have a girl, because their first two children were boys, and the couple wanted a daughter in the family. Even though this procedure was performed to achieve the parents’ desire to create a more balanced family, this was one of the first highly publicized instances of PGD, as the decision was for a more cosmetic purpose rather than to address a specific medical condition. The Collins’ decision to have a “designer baby” by choosing the sex of their child entered the public eye when they were featured in Time Magazine’s 1999 article "Designer Babies". Even though the Collins’ case only involved choice of gender, it raised issues of choice for all other traits such as hair color, eye color, height, or

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.

Science and technology are always pushing forward and leading us to new discoveries, dramatically altering life as we know it. One of the newest discoveries is the genetic enhancement of infants, also known as designer babies or germline enhancement. Scientists take the human embryo and enhance its genetic makeup to ensure a particular gene is present or to remove the gene altogether. The manipulation of the unborn child’s genes will pose unknown risks and will be done without their consent. The controversy of this deception will further destabilize society and its unity. The genetic enhancement of infants should be opposed because it is unethical and dangerous to civilians and society.

A designer baby is a baby genetically engineered in vitro for specially selected traits, which can vary from lowered disease-risk to gender selection. Before the advent of genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization (IVF), designer babies were primarily a science fiction concept. However, the rapid advancement of technology before and after the turn of the twenty-first century makes designer babies an increasingly real possibility. As a result, designer babies have become an important topic in bioethical debates, and in 2004 the term “designer baby” even became an official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. Designer babies represent an area within embryology that has not yet become a practical reality, but nonetheless draws out ethical concerns about whether or not it will become necessary to implement

Technology is quickly advancing, and many opportunities only dreamt about previously have developed. One of these opportunities arising is designing your baby. Currently, scientist can eliminate genetic diseases or screen for gender, and in the future, will be able to choose various traits. Pursuing this research of designer babies is creating a conflict though. Through multiple techniques, scientists can alter the embryo to the parent’s desire but while this has numerous benefits, there are also many concerns.

The term designer children is unnerving at first to many. The idea of parents designing the genetic makeup of their offspring makes children seem like a commodity in a genetic free market. Thoughts of a dystopian society like the one in the film “Gattaca” come to mind. However, taking an immediate repugnant stand against genetic enhancement is not well-founded. A more open-minded inspection of the issue reveals that the idea of parents improving their children’s life prospects through genetic engineering (provided it is safe) is, at its core, not unethical. In fact, some genetic enhancement in addition to correcting deleterious genes to prevent disease is a moral obligation. It is moral to make rational decisions using the science and

For many years, the idea of being able to design and choose your children has long been a topic of science fiction. But rapid progress in genetics is making the idea of ‘designer children’ possible. A designer child is a baby whose genetic make-up has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present. This can be used to improve the health of the baby, or enhancing particular genes to make the child achieve better in a particular area. These babies are also described as genetically modified, where the child contains genetic material that has been artificially altered so as to produce a desired characteristic. Despite the seemingly beneficial results, there are many negative as well as positive aspects to this new technique.

“A baby whose genetic makeup has been selected in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present”; the definition of a designer baby is a simple one. A child who, through science and engineering, is given traits desired by it’s parents to resemble their view of a healthier, better baby. Whether that is to treat a mutation in the child’s DNA that could result in Down’s Syndrome or changing the baby’s eye color from brown to blue, science has made it not only conceivable but a very likely possibility, for fully designed babies to be waddling down the street within the century. Though the term “designer baby” is not one recognized by scientists, many journalists across the world have coined the term to explain the quite terrifying potential reality that lies ahead for humanity. Currently, only two types of advanced reproductive techniques can be conducted on humans. One, analyzes the sperm to determine the sex and genes of the baby, and the second screens for various genetic deformities that may occur before birth, thus allowing people to only fertilize healthy embryos.

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.

“In 2004 the term ‘designer baby’ made the transition from sci-fi movies and weblogs into the Oxford English Dictionary, where it is defined as ‘a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics’”(Agar). The main process of creating designer babies occurs through advanced reproductive technologies. “Advanced reproductive technologies involve using InVitro Fertilization or IVF to fertilize eggs with sperm in ‘test-tubes’ outside the mother’s body in a laboratory” (“What is a Designer Baby?”). As the concept of what will become known as designer babies is more frequent in the future, technology should not be limited for the reasons that children are constantly engineered since the moment they are born, it allows parents to assure their child’s future, and provides stability in an industrialized

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