Designer Babies

"Designer Babies", (or "designer children") are children whose genetic traits are chosen by their parents; whether through screening or active genetic modification.

There are different approaches to the subject. Designer babies may be created to ensure that a child inherits certain traits. Parents may choose to have a child with a certain eye colour, or, a certain stature. Screening can also be done for other traits, such as intelligence.

Some dismiss the practice of choosing a child's physical appearance and intelligence as shallow. Still, they may argue that if one of the parents carries a gene for a certain disorder, the parents should be able to opt to have a healthy baby, without any disorders.

Some wish to create designer babies for medical purposes. If a child is in need of bone marrow, and a donor cannot be found, the parents may opt to design a baby that is genetically compatible with the sick child.

Scanning for genetic disorders seems like a good idea. Designing babies who don't immediately pass away after birth due to morbid genetic conditions would save parents much grief. Parents may become pickier as societal standards change, however. They could start screening for genes linked to less debilitating disorders, such as ADHD. This practice could also be considered discriminatory against people who lead a successful life despite their disability, such as those who are deaf.

Ensuring the birth of healthy children is not so bad compared to what else can be achieved, however. If parents were given the choice of eye colour, athletic ability, and intelligence, would this serve to discriminate against those who are not athletic, intelligent, and beautiful? Nobody is perfect; people are born with a wide variety of genetic traits. With parents being able to choose the characteristics of their children, there may be increasing pressure to have unnaturally 'perfect' children.

I think that we can't really know if creating designer babies is entirely a bad thing yet. So long as the children are being treated well (especially those created to help another child), should we be concerned? More advanced trait selection technology (i.e. for cosmetic purposes) will likely not become available for a while, by which time people may already be modifying their appearance in other ways (e.g.: cosmetic surgery). Also, at the moment, scientists are unable to implant new genes; they can only screen embryos for certain traits. The child's traits still need to be inherited from the parents.

If this technology can save lives by preventing people from having harmful disorders, it is not a completely bad thing. Vaccines were a controversial technology at the time of their introduction, but they have now rendered many diseases obsolete.

Ultimately, so long as no harm is being done, and we're careful about it, creating designer babies shouldn't be too much of a problem. Eventually, measures may need to be taken to regulate designer babies, but for now, I think that the only way to find out is to wait and see.

Blogs I commented on:

http://itsalive-conn.blogspot.com/2010/11/designer-babies.html?showComment=1289833027140#c3298430410593535763

http://adorablogs.blogspot.com/2010/10/ideal-babyit-could-be-yours.html?showComment=1289833950094#c8800805274980121336

Works Cited:

Bonsor, Kevin, and Julia Layton. "How Designer Children Work." HowStuffWorks.com. 10 May 2001. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/genetic/designer-children.htm>.

Keim, Brandon. "Designer Babies: A Right to Choose?" Wired News. 9 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/>.

Lemonick, Michael D., David Bjerklie, Alice Park, and Dick Thompson. "Designer Babies." Time.com. 11 Jan. 1999. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html>.

Pollack, Gladys. "Designer Babies." Reader's Digest Magazine Canada Online. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/09/designer_babies.html>.

"The Need to Regulate "Designer Babies"" Scientific American. 4 May 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=regulate-designer-babies>.

"Will screening for birth defects lead to 'designer babies'?" Canada.com. 5 Oct. 2005. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.canada.com/topics/lifestyle/parenting/story.html?id=af85fffa-81df-4c47-b389-d7eefc2faccf&k=7781>.