Research Paper On Designer Babies

There have been technological advancements in the recent years, and the majority of countries in the world has witnessed this. One of the most interesting advancements in the biomedical sector has been the invention of designer babies. Designer babies refer to a wide range of reproductive techniques such as replacing versions of genes linked to certain diseases and enhancing certain attributes in a baby. These adjustments, however, are not ethically right since God’s work is termed to be perfect.

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).

As we stand in the world today, we as humans have never been more technologically advanced or scientifically intelligent. We have the ability to explore outer space and the depths of the oceans. We are even in the process of developing organs using 3D printing technology. But there is a limit to the extent of advancements that humankind can reach before some begin to pose dangers to humanity or become unethical. Currently, technology is being developed to expand the procedure of in vitro fertilization to genetically modify embryos. The products of this engineering are commonly known as “designer babies”. This technology, when fully developed, would grant parents the opportunity to select against possibly life threatening or altering conditions such as cystic fibrosis, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. Using this technology, parents would also be able to make extensive selections regarding their baby’s gender, physical characteristics, and possibly even personality traits and talents. While it is positive advancement to be able to select against life-threatening diseases, the creation of an a-la-carte baby is unethical and crosses the line between positive sociological developments and immoral manipulations of nature for many reasons.

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.

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

“One need not be deeply religious or oppose abortion to be troubled by the prospect of a society in which, as bioethicist Alexander Capron puts it, ‘The wanted child becomes the made-to-order child’" (Shannon). With rising concerns of building a baby through eugenics and IVF or In Vitro Fertilization, the government, court systems, activists, and public media is starting to take notice. Being able to pick your babies’ generic make up would be an ethical disaster with a slippery slope into an era where one’s child is created by man with build-a-baby qualities instead of the natural creation of a new life. Creating a designer baby through IVF technology would have severe consequences not only affecting this generation by all the future

The phrase “designer baby” was not added to the dictionary until 2004, but the idea had existed in the form of the eugenics movement since Sir Francis Galton published his book Hereditary Genius in 1869. Galton’s research suggested that intelligence is hereditary, and he believed that success is due to superior qualities that were passed down generation through generation. His research further suggested that personality traits and mental abilities were also hereditary (Plucker, 2013). Eugenics, a term coined by Galton in 1883, advocated for human breeding restrictions so as to improve the biological make-up of the human race (Steen, 1996). Technology since then has advanced greatly, and designer babies are now a very real possibility.

The possibility of making a designer baby could be happening soon. It is no longer an issue of whether it will happen; the question is when will it happen. Today researchers are making fast advances in information on the human genome and how to change and adjust genes. Utilizing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), parents can choose particular developing embryos to guarantee a specific sex or to prevent a disease. Nevertheless, this innovation may be utilized to choose eye color or even the intelligence of a child. People should not be allowed to design their babies because it is not morally correct, it could create discrimination against the disabled, and it could affect the child 's mental well-being.

A designer baby is a genetically engineered child using InVitro fertilization for specially selected traits, which can vary from lower risk diseases to gender selection (The Embryo Project). The idea of designer babies was first established in the mid-1990s by an embryologist named Jacques Cohen. His technique for helping infertile women was intended to “rescue” the eggs of women

4. Green, Ronald Micheal. Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Web.

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.

Over the past decade, the scientific technology of genetic engineering has grown drastically. Online articles propose that the chance to pick the accurate characteristics a guardian wants for their child will be accessible, “Any couple with several thousand dollars to spare can choose the sex of their offspring” (Ehrich and Williams, 2004). Progressed regenerative advances permit people and specialists to screen embryos for a hereditary issue and select solid developing lives. Although Designer babies have been a subject that has been banned in China, UK, and India, it is still a mainstream point far and wide. This subject brings a considerable measure of verbal confrontations about the basic, yes and no, but additionally about when and when not.

As the years have progressed, scientific research has begun to grow exponentially. Every day something new is discovered and has been incorporated into everyday life. One recent discovery is the ability to screen eggs from the mother for certain genetic diseases, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and implant them; ultimately picking and implanting an egg that will produce a normal, healthy child or otherwise known as a designer baby(Ly). Another aspect of a designer baby, is the ability that allows the parents to pick the gender or certain traits they want their child to have(Ly). This means that if the parents want their child to have a very high IQ, be a girl, and be beautiful; then it will have all of those traits. If the parents want their child to play basketball and eventually go pro; then it will have the ability

The idea of designer babies has been present in science fiction literature and films for decades. From Huxley’s novel Brave New World, in which babies are grown in vats and there is no such thing as family, to the 1997 film Gattaca, in which children who are genetically engineered are considered superior and a person’s value is based entirely on their DNA (Molina, 2016).

How does it sound to walk into the doctor’s office, choose what attributes you want your baby to have, and then having that exact baby 9 months later? Although this may seem quite harmless to most, the negative effects of designer babies are tremendous: the lack of diversity in our population, violation of a specific set of laws designed to protect humans, going against Christian views, and even destroying the roots of human nature. With genetic engineering biotechnology, such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (or CRISPR), new and unique altercations are being done to revolutionize many aspects of our lives. Along with astounding benefits that can come from these biotechnologies, many people have come up with crazy ideas, such as these designer baby ideas, that could be potentially harmful to our society.