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Pgd Persuasive Essay

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In this day in age, where looks are almost everything when getting and going where you want, having a child with perfect genes is something to brag about. Allowing a parent to choose the perfect genes is not so far off in the future, in fact, it is now possible to pick some of the genes of a baby to make a “perfect” child. A procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, has been used for years by doctors who wanted to reduce the chance of women carrying babies infected with life-threatening diseases. PGD was first used to improve the likelihood of a successful pregnancy for couples suffering with recurring miscarriages and parents who had the chance of passing on genetic diseases to their offspring. Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, a …show more content…

Even PGD, only used in the best ways possible, to lower the possibility of a child inheriting a disease, was, and is, still a controversial issue and has become an even bigger issue today. Jessica Berg, an associate professor of law and bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, said PGD also raises concerns about how society will begin to perceive people with disabilities, along with the parents who chose to have them. Berg (2003) says: While we hope our children are healthy, the ability to pick ahead of time might lead to some unintended consequences. Society may be inclined to view parents who don't use this technology as irresponsible. Insurance companies may deny coverage to a child born with cystic fibrosis, saying ‘Look, you knew you could have an unhealthy child.’ Although no serious health effects have been linked to PGD, there has not been any rigorous long-term testing on this procedure. Many people agree that it seems highly likely that PGD may have a few long-term health effects because a cell is being removed from an embryo. A few studies using mice as the PGD recipients have shown a higher risk of weight gain and memory loss in adulthood. One main reason why this procedure should be banned is because of the cost of this procedure. No one less than the upper-middle class is able to afford this price. The PGD test itself costs about $3,000.

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