At one point in time, if someone was infertile then they couldn’t have kids. There was nothing that could be done. Not anymore. Now doctors can provide them another option called in vitro fertilization. Not only that but biomedical engineers have advanced this field to even greater extents. They can use gene manipulation to prevent certain genetic diseases such as asthma, muscular dystrophy and even greatly reduce the chances of disease rampant in the family history, such as breast cancer. One of these ways is the "three parent" idea. Reproductive surgeons will use the mother’s egg, but replace the mitochondria that contains the disease with second healthy mitochondria from a different mother resulting in three parents total. Contributing to the genetics of the offspring, scientists are projecting a new possibility: designer babies. These would be completely "customized" children. Manipulation of eye color, hair color, facial structure, height, size, numerous other changes are all possibilities. This is a modern field of medicine covering new ground. However these designer babies present major ethical issues. People feel scientists are taking full control of nature and lines are being crossed that shouldn't be. For example a scientist wanted her kid to look like her, therefore she implanted an embryo into herself and had a blonde hair blue eyed baby, just as she wanted, but should be genetically impossible. This research in designing a baby should be regulated; it is ideal for preventing devastating diseases that will worsen a human’s future life but completely controlling a baby's appearance and possibly their personality, though possible, should be illegal in the United States. According to the American Pregnancy Association in ... ... middle of paper ... ...ses typically prevent mitochondria from converting food into energy and are the result of genetic abnormalities, although some cases can be caused by exposures to toxins. These diseases can also affect a child ability to see or hear. Many people are worried how this procedure will affect both the parents and children. But a researcher in Oregon, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, has performed the mitochondrial procedure in monkeys and has said that it is ready to be tried in people (Tavernisse, Sabrina). “Every time we get a little closer to genetic tinkering to promote health, that’s exciting and scary,” said Dr. Alan Copperman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. “People are afraid it will turn into a dystopian brave new world.” Allowing the three parent baby plan will help create a healthier future.
A person's individuality begins at conception and develops throughout life. These natural developments can now be changed through genetically engineering a human embryo. Through this process, gender, eye and hair color, height, medical disorders, and many more qualities can be changed. I believe genetically engineering a human embryo is corrupt because it is morally unacceptable, violates the child's rights, and creates an even more divided society.
Neoeugenics is the idea of new, “neo”, eugenics or a new way of creating a healthier race. Eugenics was first defined in the late 1800s by a man named Sir Francis Galton who said that it was basically the study of traits that will cause an advantage or disadvantage in the traits of future generations. Eugenics soon turned from being about the use of artificial selection of breeding to create a stronger species, to being about the advancement of certain races over others. When talking about neo eugenics, it is believed that it may turn into something similar to that of eugenics in that the use of artificial selection would now be used to bring the upper class higher in standards of health and wellbeing as well as beauty. Others believe that the use of neo eugenics will help create a healthier, more stable species. Whether bad or good, the way that eugenics will advance will be in designer babies.
Most people agree, in general, that designer babies are taking over and it is it’s a good thing. A designer baby is a human embryo that parents set , to produce desirable traits. According to Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection , Fertility Institutes in Los Angeles offered to let parents select their children’s hair and eye color. Crazy to think you’d be able to build your own baby. The process of creating this designer baby would be embryos modified to predetermine intellect , physical prowess , and beauty. People may question designer babies but “if you think women have the right to control their bodies , then they should be able to make this choice” right? (Citation?) There is a lot of science into creating a designer baby.
After the discovery of genetically altering an embryo before implantation, “designer babies” was coined to describe a child genetically altered “to ensure specific intellectual and cosmetic characteristics.” (“Designer Babies” n.p.). This procedure combines genetic engineering and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to make sure certain characteristics are absent or present in an embryo (Thadani n.p.). The procedure also includes taking an embryo to be pre-implementation genetically diagnosed (PGD), another procedure that doctors use to screen the embryos (Stock n.p.). An embryo’s DNA goes through multiple tests to obtain an analysis of the embryo, which will list all the components of the embryo including genetic disorders and physical traits such as Down syndrome, blue eyes, and brown hair, for instance (Smith 7). Although the use of PGD is widely accepted by the “reproductive medical community” and the modifying of disorders or diseases is to a degree, once the characteristics are no longer health related “72% disapprove of the procedure” (“Designer Babies” n.p.). At this point the parents make decisions that would alter their child’s life forever and this decision is rather controversial in the U...
What do one think of when they hear the words “Designer Babies”? A couple designing their own baby of course, and it’s become just that. Technology has made it possible for there to be a way for doctors to modify a babies characteristics and its health. Genetically altering human embryos is morally wrong, and can cause a disservice to the parents and the child its effecting.
While people may have little insight into the new developments of designer babies, science has explored and expanded genetic editing. “Manipulating genes is legal”. According to Chinese scientist who created such technology. (in slide show). In 1994, the argument was to have equal rights so the poor get the same treatment like the rich. (embryo.aus). in adjacent to the statistics, some studies indicate Americans would like to know if their child would develop Alzheimer’s, or cancer (put statistics in a slide show) . (genetic technology pg 6,7). The Harvard STAT and Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health found that people now have mixed and apparently not firm vies on designer babies. The outcome was split between whether the federal government should fund, research on editing genes( polls).. For instance, The food and drug administration centers for Medicaid, Medicare services, and the federal trade commission regulates genetic testing and research in the US. There is no law forbidding genetic manipulation in humans. (site this). There are many great reasons why designer babies should be valid. With new technology curing diseases is an awesome way to use (PGD), it is possible to save a human from being
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 diseases, the genetic enhancement of human embryos is unethical when used to create "designer babies" with enhanced appearance, athletic ability, and intelligence.
Society is beginning to live in a world where parents can decide the future of their children from their intelligence level to immunity towards illnesses. Science is now capable of selecting a desirable offspring that meets a parent's needs. The idea of a designer baby is a relatively new concept in science that increases the ability to control and manipulate a child before birth. This presents many possibilities for improving the health of children through prenatal diagnosis, but these possibilities are connected with potential social repercussions that could have negative consequences in the future.
People should not have access to genetically altering their children because of people’s views on God and their faith, the ethics involving humans, and the possible dangers in tampering with human genes. Although it is many parent’s dream to have the perfect child, or to create a child just the way they want, parents need to realize the reality in genetic engineering. Sometimes a dream should stay a figment of one’s imagination, so reality can go in without the chance of harming an innocent child’s life.
“To deliberately create an induvial with multiple mitochondrial genotypes without knowing the consequences is really a step into the dark” (Cummins). Instead of destroying the problems that they assume the embryo will have, they will create other problems instead. Those other problems may even be new diseases in which we have no cure how to treat. Thus said, designer babies will create more diseases in the future.
Mitochondrial diseases plague body organs that require lots of energy, including the heart, brain, and liver. The creation of people with modified genes could create problems in society as these people could be smarter, more attractive, and stronger than people without modifications. Another reason that mitochondrial replacement therapy is opposed is that scientists and doctors do not know how mitochondrial DNA from one female may interact with the nuclear DNA of a mother in an egg, and how this mix of DNA may affect the child. Three-parent baby girls can pass their mitochondrial DNA onto their future children, which can impact the generations to come.
In “Designer babies: an ethical horror waiting to happen? Philip Ball explains there is a possibility for designer babies in the near future but the question is, how close are we to being able to perfect genes to make the “perfect baby” and should we even try to “design” babies? According to Ball in his essay, “Designer babies: an ethical horror waiting to happen?” Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World is a focal point for media discussion of genetic manipulation and the message is that we are heading towards babies being made in numbered test tubes. Ball suggests the aim for picking and choosing embryos through IVF will be to attract consumers and not to engineer babies to be similar. Ball emphasizes that “designer babies” in reality means freedom
Is it morally acceptable for parents to use genetic and reproductive techniques to create designer babies? A topic that has become controversial in the past few years especially when it comes to a child’s autonomy something that is important to children when it comes to behavior and thinking independently.
One of these moral dilemmas is that genetic engineering changes the traditional dynamic that occurs between the parent and the offspring. This issue arose over the possibility of having a human embryo with three genetic parents which is now possible due to genetic engineering. The procedure in question “involves transplanting the chromosomes from a single-cell embryo or from an unfertilized egg into a donor egg or embryo from which the chromosomes have been removed”(Foht). The procedure itself is very useful for women with mitochondrial disorders but the issue involved with this is that the embryo would technically have three biological parents. There needs to be a real concern about “the way genetic engineering can alter the relationship between the generations from one of parents accepting the novelty and spontaneous uniqueness of their children to one where parents use biotechnology to choose and control the biological nature of their children”(Foht). There is a special relationship between children and their parents that may be disappearing very soon due to these techniques. Children could be born never truly knowing one of their genetic parents. If these procedures continue to prosper people will have to “accept arrangements that split apart the various biological and social aspects of parenthood, and that deliberately create
Could you imagine your parents designing you? Picture your parents being able to go into a room and design you just like that. They could choose what you would look like, be like, and even what abilities you may have. It sounds crazy, but science is advancing and soon this will be possible, that is, if we allow it.