The disadvantages of designer babies are equally important as the advantages. The moral issues have to be addressed and this is the single area that has caught the public attention through the media because of the actions of the numerous campaign groups. There are many ethical and moral issues and question that have been raised like;
Should PGD be made widely available, given that there is no treatment or cure for Huntington’s chorea? Or should the results of the genetic screening be made available to that of the person relatives or to that of the persons insurance company or employer. (5)
If the baby is diagnosed with a genetic disorder in time for genetic alterations to be performed and the parents religious beliefs stop them from allowing and consenting the designing to commence what will happen? The baby have to suffer as it grows because the parents would not it let it consent to treatment. If the parents will not allow action, will the courts and law be allowed to intervene in this situation? And if the courts do intervene and allow the treatment, the parents might reject the child as it against their religious beliefs and so the child will suffer more as it will not be nourished and taken care of. The main reason people (especially religious people) don't want designer babies to be made legal is because its not what god intended. He intended natural births otherwise he would not of made us this way.
These questions will have to be answered before designer babies are allowed. Or will these questions be dealt with when the problems arise? The medical issues of designer babies in a harmful way also have to be dealt with. If the genetic code of a child is altered, then it could affect the baby’s children and it ascendants. If the genetic code is altered and tampered with too much that would surely have a detrimental effects such as infertility and so forth. If it is available, it must surely have some limitations. Will the technology be applied to medical disorders and what type of disorders. Ailments such as Downs’s syndrome or hereditary baldness?
If it is going to be made legal to design babies who will police it? If there is a person who wants designing done and has the right money but will be turned away because of the law and are not allowed to do the procedure. This would create more problems because people with money will try anything to achieve this and that would even mean going to the black market.
People have also believed that disabled people and patients with genetic disease have been an inspiration for many people
There are different reasons why people want to have designer babies. Some would just like a perfect child who is intelligent and good-looking, but there are more tragic cases. A couple named Raj and Shahana Hashmi have a three-year-old son named Zain who has thalassaemia, which creates potentially fatal levels of iron in his blood (4). His condition could only be cured by a bone marrow transplant from a perfect genetic match but no suitable donor had been found. The only way Zain can be saved is if Raj and Shahana have a designer baby. The couple were given the permission to use the embryo selection to choose an embryo, which was free from any faults in the gene, which was associated with thalassaemia. This would then allow the future child to be a bone- marrow donor for his brother. This case is one reason why we should allow designer babies to be produced.
The advantages of designer babies from a medical perspective are definitely one of the stronger arguments. If designer babies in practice, then it would benefit society in many positive ways. The life expectancy of a person would be increased because genetic diseases such as Downs Syndrome and Huntington chorea would be eradicated. The NHS would be saving a lot of money. This is because the quality of life for those who suffered the effects of disease for which there was no improvement would decrease. Diseases like heart disease and diabetes and other such ailments would be eradicated. If this were to happen then it would be good. This would include economic advantages; if people were not suffering from genetic diseases the health care budget could be decreased and the money relocated to other areas of need.
Prospective parents will be able to select certain traits in the unborn child, such as people living in China where having a male child has many advantages both socially and economically, this would also stop people mistreating or aborting, both legal and illegally, their child if they did not poses a required trait (5). Most families hope to have a boy as boys can carry on working to get an income (women do not work in china) and can keep up the family name. If we made designer babies available to everyone for any reason people in china would only want male babies and the female population in the country would be much lower than the males. With the expanding knowledge in genealogy, we could find certain gene traits, which are related to anti- social behaviour, and these could be eradicated.
At the moment in the U.K, it is legal for parents to choose the sex of their baby British law says that parents are only able to select the sex of their child if there is a substantial risk that a gender-related genetic disease could be passed on. (2)
I believe that embryo selection should be legal only if it believed that the child might be carrying gene which have disease and that are associated with problems with health. I also believe that embryo selection or PGD would have to be policed and this should be done by the HFEA (human fertilisation and embryology authority). I believe that all prospective parents looking forward to use this procedure must be cautioned about the risks and issues that have been raised. If parents want to use this method, then they should be interviewed properly in many stages, so we can be clear that the only reason for this treatment is that of health risk and not of picking the child’s hair colour or abilities.
INTERNET
(1)
(2)
BOOKS
Human Genetics (3)
British Medical association BMA
Published in1998 by
Oxford university press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford
OX2 6DP
Debating matters- Designer babies – where should we draw the line? (4)
Hodder & Stoughton
Published in 2002 by
Cox & Wyman
338 Euston Road
London
NW1 3BH
Improving Nature? The science and ethics of genetic engineering (5)
Michael J Reiss and Roger Straughan
Published in 1996 by
Press syndicate of the university off Cambridge
The Pitt Building
Trumpington Street
Cambridge
CB2 1RP
A new introduction to biology (6)
Bill Indge, Martin Rowland, Margaret Baker
Published in 2000 by
Printer Trento
338 Euston Road
London
NW1 3BH