The Ethical Complications Of Designer Babies

Introduction
As the human population continues to rise at a rapid rate and new ways to reproduce are being discovered, controversy has been raised over the ethical complications of designer babies. This form of reproduction entails creating embryos via in-vitro fertilisation and artificially selecting the most appealing baby based on its genes. Scientists are confident that the continued studies of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) will enable them to predict and select embryos with the desired gender, appearance, intelligence, while being free of genetic diseases (Turriziani. J, 2014). However, some people argue that the production of designer babies will create a loss of individuality and encourage gender discrimination as the unwanted

The process of undertaking IVF, genetic testing, and purchasing a donor egg to complete the germ-line engineering procedure costs approximately $100,000 (Regalado. A, 2015). Due to the large expense affiliated with choosing and growing a designer baby, only wealthy families will be able to experience this genetic technology. Furthermore, in cultures where males are considered to be more useful and therefore more valuable, such as in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, the rich families that undergo this process will create a gender bias in their country (Pappas. S, 2012). An example of this inequality occurs in India where antenatal termination of females has occurred over half a million times during the past 20 years (Advocates for Youth, 2010). These factors may cause a societal divide world-wide between the natural and preternatural children, and encourage gender discrimination. An additional disadvantage of pursuing the research of designer babies, is the large portion of embyos that are destroyed in the process. The number of embryos that are created for the purpose of gene screening previous to implantation ranges from 5-12 embryos (Regalado. A, 2015)(Dominion Fertility, 2013). Only one of these will be chosen to return to the womb and the remaining embryos are usually thrown out. Some consider this as highly unethical, as the embryos had the potential to grow into healthy human beings and they were terminated purely due to unwanted physical features they possessed. The disadvantages of allowing the general public to create designer babies include; generating a social divide, supporting gender discrimination, and killing a large amount of