"Designer Babies", (or "designer children") are children whose genetic traits are chosen by their parents; whether through screening or active genetic modification. 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:
Works Cited:
Bonsor, Kevin, and Julia Layton. "How Designer Children Work." HowStuffWorks.com. 10 May 2001. Web.
Keim, Brandon. "Designer Babies: A Right to Choose?" Wired News.
Lemonick, Michael D., David Bjerklie, Alice Park, and Dick Thompson. "Designer Babies." Time.com.
Pollack, Gladys. "Designer Babies." Reader's Digest Magazine
"The Need to Regulate "Designer Babies"" Scientific American. 4 May 2009. Web.
"Will screening for birth defects lead to 'designer babies'?" Canada.com.
I agree with the idea of monitoring the designer children who were conceived for the sake of their ill sibling. These children can be considered organ vessels for their siblings, since they donate bodily parts. Knowing the reason for their existance may cause them to believe that they are fated to die for their sibing or other delusions. They may suffer physchologically if they feel they are unimportant. Also, the family may take advantage of the designer child. For example, if the ill sibling requries a kidney, the parents may force the designer child to donate the organ. Parents should not force their children to undergo a sugery that provides no physical or health benefits to the patient.
ReplyDeleteI believe we have to tread carefully through this relatively new field in science. It is easy for humans to take advantage of technology. For example, a scientitst may become obsessed with creating the perfect human specimen. In fact, he may genetically modify it to such an extent that the specimen in no longer human. Of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is possible. I beleive that we should continue to explore this new field, but to take percautions and understand where to draw the line. With new techniques and discoveries being made everyday, countries will have to establish laws to control the experiments regarding genetic engineering.
I enjoyed your blog very much. It was extremely informative and organized. The sentence that had a great impact me, was the comparison of how vaccines was once a debatable topic, such as this, when it was first introduced. It is amazing because vaccines have become the routine method of immunization. It is possible that society may eventually accept the concept of designer babies. But hopefully, we do not get carried away with it as I mentioned before.
Wow Alex. I love how open minded you think on Designer Babies. I do think that it’s too soon to tell whether or not Designer Babies is a good or bad idea. But for the moment, from what we know so far, I don’t think its leading towards a positive thing. Think about it; this new research can change an offspring’s characteristics. This research is amazing but instead of trying to perfect humans; shouldn’t we focus more on treating and finding new medicines for sicknesses?
ReplyDeleteSup Alex,
ReplyDeleteOne problem with making "designer babies" medicinally is that the parents aren't likely to know that their child will be born with a genetic defect even if that said defect runs in the family. Your open mindedness towards the whole process is really awesome, personally I don't find it fair for some kids to get a leg up on others but then again even though i think it's a parent's job to give their child as good of a start as possible.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the fact that at this early stage, we can't really tell whether or not designer babies will be advantageous or raise many issues. Certainly, the use of PGD at the moment has been beneficial in removing diseased embryos. The use of this sort of technology hasn't been used much in situtations such as changing appearances since they've only been able to work with eye colour and hair colour so far on a more successful level. There have been some scientists however who insist that something as complex as personality traits should also be changeable.
With this sort of technology coming about, some of its uses may be more necessary than others and some will surely impact the society a lot more than others, but for now, it's still something to wait on.
Hey Alex! Now that severe medical conditions are being treated through genetic modification, there's no doubt that sooner or later, embryos will be screened for less urgent disorders like ADHD (as you have mentioned). I definitely agree that there's going to be an increased level of discrimination towards people with such disorders. Nowadays, they're thought of as unpreventable disorders that befall unfortunate patients, but what will happen when people are given the ability to choose otherwise? The few who still suffer from these disorders will undoubtedly be marginalized and further alienated for their differences. Moreover, those who can pay for such medical procedures have got to be pretty rich -- meaning the wealthy will continue to become more 'superior' to the poor in more ways than one.
ReplyDeleteHello Alex
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that the technology used in the process of Genetic Babies should be used to scan for and rectify genetic disorders in babies before they emerge into the world.
However not all parents will ask to use the technology to search for possible illnesses. Some parents will use the technology to create the ideal baby. While that is purely superficial on the parent's part, that is a strong possibility.
But you're right that we will have to wait to see if this technology will be beneficial to society. I like how you looked at both sides of the issue and showed us both positive and negative uses for the usage of Genetic baby technology.