Wouldn’t it be great if it were possible to choose features such as hair and eye color for your children? What about if a child needs an organ transplant but cannot get a donor for the transplant? Designer babies may be able to solve the problems that come along with genetics. They are babies that are genetically engineered in any way to make them different. They can be born in test tubes that are made to give children organs or other things that is more easily obtained from a baby along with taking out bad genes that can cause diseases such as cancer. Designer babies can also be babies that parents choose certain traits for to make the baby how the parents want them or a dream child. They can be used to save many people from death and help parents choose how they want their children to look.
The idea of designer babies has been around for about a decade but it may actually begin to happen very soon. In fact, British scientists have created a test that analyzes embryos for genetic diseases and can be used to determine what genes can cause certain diseases (Steere). Also in 1997 designer babies were made by Jacques Cohen to aid women who were infertile and could not have children. Shannon Brownlee told about how people can genetically alter their children when she said, “Today, any couple with several thousand dollars to spare can choose the sex of their offspring, while parents who are carriers for certain genetic disorders can undergo IVF and have the resulting embryos genetically tested to ensure their children are free of disease.” This means that parents are currently able to choose the sex of their children and if they are carriers of diseases, they can use In Vitro Fertilization to make sure that the future children ar...
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...destroying the chance of cells such as cancer cells from being made.
Works Cited
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Brownlee, Shannon. “Designer Babies.” Washington Monthly 34.3 (2002): 25. Business Source Elite. Web. 7 Jan. 2014.
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“Designer Babies.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
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Steere, Mike. "Designer Babies: Creating the Perfect Child." CNN. Cable News Network, 2008. Web. 07 Jan. 2014.
Once altered, the baby will have no say in how its cells are used, or traits they wish to keep but no longer will have the chance too. Some designer babies are created to help others through transplants. Even though the intention may be decent, it is still taking away the child's chance to have a choice in his body. Certain transplants are painful, such as a bone marrow transplant, and creating the child to be used as a donor could possibly put him through involuntary pain.
Catalano, Michael. "The Prospect of Designer Babies: Is It Inevitable?" The People, Ideas, and Things (PIT) Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
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.
Of?"http://www.siumed.edu/medhum/electives/HealthPolicyMedia/wk5Stock.pdf 22.11 (2003). Rpt. in Designer Babies. Ed. Clayton Farris Naff. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 May 2014.
Often times referred to as designer babies, I find this topic very interesting and believe that it should be discussed more. As for my stance on the topic, I think that it is a great idea but, however, only to an extent. I think that if we are capable of changing a baby's genes so that they will not develop a deadly or potentially harmful disease, then I am all for it. On the other hand, however, I am not supportive of parents who want to genetically modify their baby for beauty purposes. We should leave our appearances up to mother nature. I do not think it is right to change genes for appearance whether it be making teeth whiter, eyes and hair a specific color, or changing their genes responsible for height. Personally, the fatal disease, Alzheimer's runs in my family and I would love to be able to prevent my children from potentially carrying the gene. While it would be nice to be able to “design” my baby, the surprise is so much better. Not knowing whether your child will have blue or brown eyes and blonde or brown hair is a wonderful surprise in my opinion. The somewhat randomness makes us all unique. We should allow them to grow up while not having certain expectations following them around for their entire
In recent years, great advancement has been made in medicine and technology. Advanced technologies in reproduction have allowed doctors and parents the ability to screen for genetic disorders (Suter, 2007). Through preimplantation genetic diagnosis, prospective parents undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) can now have their embryo tested for genetic defects and reduce the chance of the child being born with a genetic disorder (Suter, 2007). This type of technology can open the door and possibility to enhance desirable traits and characteristics in their child. Parents can possibly choose the sex, hair color and eyes or stature. This possibility of selecting desirable traits opens a new world of possible designer babies (Mahoney,
Marsh, Beezy. "'Designer' Baby to save Brother." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
"Designer Babies – Like It Or Not, Here They Come | Singularity Hub." Singularity Hub.
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.
How far is society willing to advance genetic enhancement technology before it becomes a moral wrong? Medical technology is well on the way to allowing parents to create designer babies, permitting parents to pick physical and internal qualities of unborn children. Due to the advance in technology allowing parents to genetically designer their own child, The American Medical Association (AMA) should create stronger codes of medical ethics and acts imposing limitations. The manipulating with embryos in order to create a parent’s ideal child is morally wrong, and should be against codes of ethics. In order to create a fine line between enhancement that prevents disease and birth defects, and the self-absorbed society that prefers children with little to no flaws; laws of ethics in medical practice need to be implemented. Therefore, with distinguished lines on medical ethics, society will not become divided and unrecognizable due to genetically enhanced humans.
Most parents have the tendency to want what is best for their children so they are in the best condition possible. Designer babies have become a popular topic today. Even though designer babies are in effect to create a parents “perfect” child, still comes with many concerns. Designer babies can have both negative and positive effects on society.
“It 's not easy as “I want to buy and egg,” states, the director of the Donor Egg Bank, Brigid Dowd. “Not everyone realizes what 's involved, and then when they hear the cost, many just pass out.” (CGS: Designing the $100,000 Baby,” par. 13) It is a fact that having certain traits are valuable, so this shows that the mere modification used on the designer baby, the more the cost. “If you are too rigid or become too obsessed with finding the perfect image you have in mind, the choice can become more difficult,” says Dowd. (“CGS: Designing the $100,000 Baby,”par. 16) The practice of human genetic modification will not be fair because only the wealthy will have enough money to spend on designing a baby. Therefore, the wealthy will have much more advantages such as longer, healthier, and successful lives. If only people of high class are able to afford designer babies, it will cause an even greater inequality between the rich and the poor (“The Ethics of Designer Babies”). It will also create a society based on “Social Darwinism”- The survival of the fittest. If creating designer babies will cause more inequalities and Social Darwinism, why should we allow this practice? (“The ethics of Designer Babies”)
Many debilitating and severe unwanted diseases, genetic disorders and disabilities can be avoided through the creation of designer babies. A child's quality of life would be drastically increased if they evade Down Syndrome, deformities or heart disease for example. In a sense, it isn’t all that different to hearing aid, medication for an illness or chemotherapy for cancer, but on a larger scale and earlier in someone’s life, before it even really begins in fact. Some people would argue that changing genes is changing who people are, which they view as ‘wrong’, but genes aren’t exactly the only things that make up a person anyway. The way that they grow up and their surroundings also make people...
Parents all have the tendency to want what is best for their children so that they can be in a perfect condition. Designer babies have become a popular topic today. Even though designer babies can be used to create a parent’s perfect child, many still have concerns. Designer babies can have both negative and positive effects; however, reports have only showed them having negative effects on our society. Doctors all believe that designing a baby can not only put the baby at risk, however, also our future society. The process of creating designer babies has not yet been reassured, which have only left doctors and others afraid of going through with this process. Designing a baby may seem easy, however the effects that these babies will bring, can only harm our society.
Leone , Nikki. “Babies by Design.” The Under Age Educational Resource Centre. The Age Education Unit. April 25 2002