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In vitro fertilization (IVF) paper introduction
What are the advantages and disadvantages of genetic engineering
Problems with designer babies
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A parent’s desire to create a perfect child has led to the development of designer babies. During the 19th and 20th century, the United States and Europe became curious about how they could promote birth to the higher classes of society because it was believed that they were more preferable. The goal was to reduce pregnancies of the lower class. Consequently, parents were able to do prenatal screening on their babies in the 1950s which led to genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is a procedure for parents to be able to design their baby by choosing their traits such as gender, facial appearance, but can also include getting rid of diseases. The idea of altering babies caused parents to side with their desires of a different gender or flawless babies. A variety of prenatal testing developed over the decade that led to IVF, in vitro fertilization – a …show more content…
Diseases may develop due to a person’s lifestyle which will not be eliminated by sex selection. People question about a baby’s health before it is born but “down syndrome, trisomy 18 and others-- were often a surprise in the delivery room” (Oster). Specifically, the idea that designing a baby can get rid of diseases is reasonable, but it can not stop the child from having diabetes or a heart disease later on. Diseases such as cancer and HIV may pass down through heredity but can also develop during natural lifestyles. A variety of things can happen during pregnancies due to the mother’s actions. Thus, sex selection does not predict or prevent some of the diseases that the baby may develop. A survey shows that 50% of U.S. adults say that using technology to genetically modify babies to reduce the risk of serious diseases is taking medical advances too far. On the other hand, 46% think it is appropriate to use technology to decrease the risk of diseases in babies (see figure
The second article I have chosen to evaluate for this topic is The Designer Baby Myth written by Steven Pinker. This article starts off by explaining how many people fear the idea of genetic enhancement. Several citizens are concerned about creating the ultimate inequality or changing human nature itself. Many will say technology in medicine is increasing to the point where genetic improvement is inevitable. Steven presents his position on the matter in his thesis statement; “But when it come to direct genetic enhancement-engineering babies with genes for desirable traits-there are many reasons to be skeptical.” He makes it clear that genetic enrichment is not particularly inevitable or likely in our lifetime. He bases his skepticism around three sources; the limits of futurology, science of behavioral genetics, and human nature.
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,
For just thousands of dollars more, women going through in vitro fertilization can later choose to have a certain gender with perfect vision, a great heart, a natural ability for sports, and being able to avoid diseases (Angelle). Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis was first inaugurated in 1990. “It has become an important complement to the presently available approaches for prevention of genetic disorders and an established clinical option in reproductive medicine” (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis). This has come in handy because it gives you the opportunity to create a baby free of health risks and you are able to freeze your eggs if you miscarry or if something harmful goes wrong with the first egg. Designer babies are created using In Vitro Fertilization. Using this technique, doctors can fertilize the egg with sperm inside the laboratory using a test tube. Doing so you can reduce the chance of the child being born with a genetic disorder and the parents can actually then on choose the sex of the baby. In some cases couples have used PGD to their advantage to save one of their children. Some babies sole purpose is to be created to save the life of their own sibling. Jamie was the first “designer” baby in Britain. “He was genetically matched to his four-year-old brother, Charlie, in the hope to curing a rare type of anaemia which threatens the older boy...
"Imagine the reaction there would be if organ transplantation were prohibited because it is 'unnatural' -- though that is what some people called for when transplantation was a medical novelty.” This quote from Dr. Roger Gosden describes how the general population felt in regards to the first transplant procedures that took place. Those fears have since been extinguished due to the success that transplant surgeries output. Designer babies are a similar medical miracle due to the possible wipeout of genetically inherited diseases. Designer babies are babies whose genetics have been specifically chosen in order to allow a certain gene to be absent or present. Having the choice to choose which genes are inherited allow for children to be born healthy and able to avoid mitochondrial disorders and potentially blindness and deafness. Designer babies are a controversial topic because of cost efficiency and some religious views. However, designer babies are a good idea in a world controlled by disease.
In today’s advanced world, modern technology has enabled humans to accomplish tasks once thought to be purely science fiction. We live in a world today where everything is instant and custom designed. Who would have ever thought that one day parents would be able to design their children? Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a “process [that] involves taking a 3day old embryo and pulling one of its six cells to test for genetic markers of disease.” (Edmonds0. Although this process is meant to help discover harmful diseases or complications like cancer, the idea of parents using this process to give their children what they consider “ideal traits” co0mes into question. Even though parents have a right to do what they think is best for their children, parents should not be allowed to genetically engineer their children because it can create new social and economic distinctions as well as destroy the idea that everyone is created equal no matter their differences.
Discussion around genetic engineering and reproductive technologies always evolve around preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) -- the method by which early human embryos are genetically removed and then discarded or placed back in the uterus. Ronald Green’s argument in his article Building Baby from the Genes Up is based on an excessively basic understanding of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and genomic science. Green argues that “genomic science is racing toward a future in which foreseeable improvements include reduced susceptibility to a host of diseases, increased life span, better cognitive functioning, and maybe even cosmetic enhancement such as whiter, straightener teeth” (180) is deceiving when we consider the ethical issues of PGD. The risks of misapplication of PGD can lead to eugenics, destruction of embryos and can be used towards non-medical traits such as cosmetics enhancement and the fact of selecting offspring traits itself can be a problem to society.
Designer Babies: What are the Ethical and Moral Issues by TK McGhie and Designer Babies: Choosing Our Children’s Genes by Bonnie Steinbock both cover the controversy around an ever growing, ever prominent field of biotechnology. These articles focus on the recent trend of the concept that parents can essentially design the baby of their dreams. Designer babies are not an actual in use trend, but it is a very real hypothetical one. The idea of designer babies first originated in 1978, the day of the first successful in vitro fertilization. From there, more and more technology has become readily available to help improve the lives of unborn children. These two articles are about the same fundamental subject but, they differ from each
To modify a human’s life is taking away the uniqueness and the flaws that makes the individual who they are. When using this process, the baby being created is no longer a natural living human. It is now considered as a man-made organism. The process commonly begins with in vitro fertilization (IVF) which costs a high amount of money. Parents that are willing to go to a doctor to create their babies are often allowed to change the physical aspects of their unborn child. Parents may choose from varieties of options such as eye color, intelligence, and gender; the physical process costs around 18,000 dollars (Naff 15). The idea of being able to control an unborn child to be better at life is concerning yet it is not the problem. The problem to the system is having to change, and challenge the most natural part of life. That is very questionable and very frightening because the outcome that is being aspired may not be the wanted
Designer babies are good because allows parents to give their child a better shot at a healthy lifestyle.It is a better chance the child will succeed in life. They can choose which gender they want.
I. I have chosen the topic of designer babies and if the promise of customizable babies is too good to pass up. I do not have a lot of experience with designer babies, but I do know about designer cattle. Growing up on a farm has provided me with alot of background knowledge on cattle. Over the years, I have learned about the breeding of dairy cattle. My father, as well as most farmers, breed cattle so that they have the best qualities and are close to perfection. When thinking about a topic to write, I thought it would be interesting to learn about the human side of eugenics, since I already knew about it in cattle. To narrow down my topic, I chose to focus on designer babies in just the United States.
Imagine a world with no disease. Well it just may be possible. Genetically modified food is common in today’s world to make food perfect. If we legalized therapeutic cloning and designer babies maybe we could have, close to, humans with perfect health. With advances in genetically modified food, therapeutic cloning, and designer babies, it seems completely possible to get rid of or make all hereditary diseases extinct.
Throughout history, society has always placed value on being bigger, stronger, and faster by any means necessary to obtain these abilities. In order to obtain these abilities, society use genetic enhancements. A genetic enhancement is the use of genetic engineering to modify an individual’s biological traits; in addition, it is the alteration of genes in an individual’s body. Scientists are able to alter individual’s genotype with the purpose of choosing desired phenotype of a newborn. The process that scientist must go through to genetically alter a gene is provide the gene to be transferred, a host cell in which the gene is inserted, and a vector to bring about the transfer, in which the enhancement is made possible. Considering that enhancement is perceived as improving the image of individuals can be beneficial, in which influences society to turn to genetic enhancements because of the expectations that the world as a whole view enhancements. However, genetic enhancements can impede the natural cycle of life and with an excessive amount of humans; it can create a lack of natural resources to sustain human life. Therefore, society believes that enhancement carries a positive connation that perceives society to further pursue in such behaviors. On the contrary, in today’s science, the advanced technology of genetic enhancements allows the ability to manipulate a baby’s preset genes which can affect society’s threshold of the image of beauty and disrupt the biological gene pool creating a society that is based on superiority and a new defined definition of “beautiful”. Genetic enhancement can, in fact, have negative effects on the baby and future generations.
“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 about building a baby through eugenics and IVF or In Vitro Fertilization, the government, court systems, activists, and public media are 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, but all the future generations to arise. The idea of bettering the human race and one’s family has been around since the 1930s and 1940s that was later dismissed when the Nazis attempted to change humanity to create the Arian race (Dr. Nicholson); however, the process of IVF and test tube babies is much more recent (Baird).
New technological advances are being mad every day, especially in genetics. With great innovations comes concerns whether it will have a good cause or be used for bad intentions. One of these is eugenics, the idea to improve genetic composition in humans most specifically in future fetuses. The idea started in 1883 by Sir Francis Galton who wanted to selectively breed humans using desired traits to create a perfect human race. This lead to many unethical moments in history such as the sterilization of unfit humans in the 19th century as well as Hitler’s use of eugenics during WWII. However, current use helps identify possible inherited diseases/conditions in unborn children and remove those traits from the DNA. Although eugenics has been used
Biotechnology or genetic engineering, can be be potentially misused and result in negative outcomes. Misuse can consist of manipulating or exploiting for gender selection, the creation of “designer babies” or the creation of “super babies;” two related but dissimilar potential misusses. Genetic engineering can be used to select the gender of the babythat the parent or parents may wish to have. There is technology available today that will allow a geneticist to tinker with human genetic matterial to make a deisgner baby. The designer baby could be engineered to have the gender that may be desired; and there is the possibility other special characteristicts can be selected, or “designed.” Sometime soon, the design of the baby could go as far as hair color, eye color, height and who know what the possibilities could become. As advances in technology inprove, the ability to create more and more specific changes in human beings will increase; as will the increased likelyhood of unintended outcomes. Some people may want to create a “super baby,” or a baby that has increased abilities. Super babies can be engineered to be more intellegent, stong, aggresive, impervious to pain, and have faster reflexes.