The Controversy of Designer Babies

727 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Pros and cons of genetic engineering

Genetically engineered babies also known as “Designer Babies” are children that are modified to your wants and desirer in what you want your child to look like. Typically women only use this procedure if they are infertile. The women decide what hair, eye color, or gender the baby is by doing this procedure. In this essay, I will explain how they’re made, the different religious debates about it, and why you shouldn’t do it. Genetic engineering allows infertile women with genetic defects in their mitochondria to have children. How are they made? The procedure known as Oplasmic transfer, is used to inject the mitochondria from the donor's egg into the egg of the infertile woman, in which vitro fertilization is performed on the egg. Healthy eggs from a second mother are used and the first mother then contributes the 23 chromosomes, which contain the majority of the child's genetic information. While the second mother contributes the mitochondrial genome; the child produced this way has genetic information from two mothers (the donor and the regular mother) and the one donor father. Researchers have already connected the genes in the striped zebra fish, which control the color of the fish to genes in humans that determine skin color. This is how they figured out they can engineer humans. “Designer Babies” use genetic engineering techniques to create desired traits of a child, such as disease resistance, sex, hair color, height and other cosmetic traits, athletic ability, or intelligence. So in other words, if you want a little girl that’s 6”7 with red hair and highly intelligent or highly athletic or even both you can use genetic engineering to do so. Genetic engineering has also helped stop family diseases and unwanted family ... ... middle of paper ... ...be the only ones left with the diseases that genetic engineering has helped to eliminate. Lastly I believe in the Christian views that are against genetic engineering. I agree with the views that believe that you are trying to pay God by doing this, “Only God has the right to interfere with our genes.” So in my final conclusion, I think it’s wrong to use genetic engineering but in some way it does have it’s advantages. We should only use it to help with curing diseases but not just for the ones that can afford it but also for everyone. I think your trying to play God in all honesty. I don’t think you should tamper with ones genetic make up. Works Cited "100% Gender Selection Sex Selection Program." 100% Gender Selection Sex Selection Program. The Fertility Institutes, 2001. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. "Designer Baby." Dow Jones & Company, 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Ethical Dilemmas of Genetically Engineering Human Embryos

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Designer Babies: Disease Free or New Child

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Selective Reduction Abortion

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    For many years, infertile couples have had difficulty facing the reality that they can not have children. According to Nidus Information Services Incorporated, 6.2 million women in the United States are infertile. This problem leads to many options. A few options have been used for a long period of time: the couple could adopt a child or keep trying to have a child themselves. For those couples that want to have their own children, there are new options arising. In vetro fertilization is an option that gives couples the chance to have a doctor combine the male's sperm and the woman's eggs in a petri dish and implant them into the woman's womb after the artificial conception. This may result in multiple pregnancies - more than five in some cases. This does not only occur in implantation, however. Many times the patient's doctor will ask her to consider selective reduction: aborting a few fetuses to save the ones she can. In a case of multiple pregnancy, selective reduction should be considered an option.

    Read More

  • Designer Babies: Genetic Engineering

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Designer Babies

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nowadays, our life is surrounded by technology in many different ways in order to improve our quality of life or jut to make our life easier. We can find constantly new advances and new techniques in science, one of this advances seems to be very controversial, this advance is genetic modification, and more specifically designer babies. According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) stated that genetic modification, as well know as genetic manipulation and genetic engineering, is an organism that has been modified in some way using biotechnology technique. All the organism are made of cells, these cells have a nucleus that contain DNA (contain information like a library) and our genes (instruction books for each of us) are made of DNA (CSIRO, 2011). Knowing that, we can introduce ourselves in what is designer babies that are babies who their genes have been modified our select in order to make sure that some particular gene is present or prevent or eliminate a particular deficiency (Oxford Dictionaries,n.d.). That may give to parents more control over their children genes before they are born, and that will be done by two assisted human reproduction procedures that will modify the genes of this future persons, by Preimplantation Genetic Disorder (PGD) or In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) (Madriaga, A, Bates, N.) It shouldn’t be a problem for our nowadays society to make more common this procedure, however it will have a profound impact in the society. It seems that mainly we will obtain positive things from Designer Babies, like eradicate disease or health problems, or parents will can have babies who look like in a certain way, because there are some parents may have preferences in the physic...

    Read More

  • Designer Babies

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    Testing and procedures surrounding genetic engineering must be stopped. This has become more than just about vanity, this is a moral issue! Thousands and thousands of potential children die during this process. For the sake of humanity, and for the sake of your descendents, stop this procedure before it goes too far down this slippery slope, stop this procedure before we make the same mistakes Hitler did, trying to create the perfect humans. Genetic engineering and designer babies should be out right banned. The procedure causes children to lose themselves, to lose their sense of identity, human diversity will be diminished, and this procedure kills countless numbers of potential children. Nevertheless, children are already unique and wonderful the way they are, and we, have no valid reason to change that system.

    Read More

  • Designer Babies: What is Ethical?

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Should Designer Babies Be Allowed

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jacques Cohen is the embryologists that created cytoplasmic transfer in hope to rescue eggs from unsuccessful in-vitro fertilization, IVF, in the mid-1990s. Over the past few years, parents have been trying to design their babies free of traits and diseases in which they may carry. There have been many results in which the procedure has only created problems. Designer Babies should not be allowed because there has been no evaluation on the outcome, creates more problems, and creates bioengineered babies.

    Read More

  • Designer Babies Debate

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of designer babies brings up some very interesting debate. When you think about it, there are some major benefits that could come from the practice of designer babies including longer lifespans and prevention of diseases like Alzheimer’s. Few would argue that ridding the world of diseases that cause mankind so much pain and suffering as a bad thing. On the other hand, critics of designer babies argue that designer babies would create a major problem in the United States because of the numerous lawsuits that are bound to follow. The practice of designer babies will cause a problem that will plague the nation.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues Regarding Designer Babies

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vitro-Fertilization or the coined term “designer baby” is when the DNA of a embryo is changed according to what the parents are looking for. It involves changing the genetic makeup of a child to delete a defect or add a gene that parents want present. Although designer babies might sound appealing, there are many concerns surrounding this topic, including mental concerns, health problems, and ethical principles. One of the largest problems regarding designer babies is mental health concerns.

    Read More

  • Should Designer Babies Be Allowed

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    Given the choice, would you rather have been born with different skin tone, eye color or hair color? Maybe you would have chosen to be taller, muscular, or even smarter. Of course, but some people don’t have this options. In the past few years science and medicine have made tremendous achievements concerning babies and genetic testing. A designer baby is a baby genetically engineered in vitro fertilization for specific selected traits.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Designer Babies

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    Particular areas of genetics remain a mystery to many scientists. Designer babies provide a solution to answering many of these questions that are still researched today. For example, why is sickle-cell anemia more apparent in people of African descent? By producing designer babies, scientists will be able to specifically produce certain cells to prevent sickle-cell anemia from ever occurring. Also, by being able to understand how diseases are passed down over the course of many generations, scientists and geneticists will be able to pinpoint specific genetic sequences that will enable them to find treatments and cures for diseases that were once

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Designer Babies

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    A designer baby is a child who is genetically modified for the purpose of removing any defects that are genetically linked, and/or to select certain genes that appeal to the parents. This process of creating designer babies is called genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the alteration of DNA by adding and/or removing certain genes. Since the discovery of human genetic modification, scientists have proposed the idea of

    Read More

  • Genetic Engineering is Immoral

    423 Words  | 1 Pages

    Genetic engineering gives the power to change many aspects of nature and could result in a lot of life-saving and preventative treatments. Today, scientists have a greater understanding of genetics and its role in living organisms. However, if this power is misused, the damage could be very great. Therefore, although genetic engineering is a field that should be explored, it needs to be strictly regulated and tested before being put into widespread use. Genetic engineering has also, opened the door way to biological solutions for world problems, as well as aid for body malfunctions. I think that scientists should indeed stop making genetic engineering for humans, because it will soon prove to be devastating to the human race. It would cause rivalries and tension among different kinds of genetically engineered humans for dominance and power.

    Read More

  • Human Genetic Engineering

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Web. 01 Dec. 2013. http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/embryo-screening-and-the-ethics-of-human- 60561 Seck, Chris.

    Read More

More about The Controversy of Designer Babies

Open Document