The Advantages and Disadvatages of Designer Babies

Authors Avatar by missbenii (student)

Designer Babies…

By Benedicte Balande

Should We Design Our Babies?’

‘Is it right?’

It’s important to know the state of your baby’

Contents:

Introduction   page 2-3  

  1. Is it a step too far?
  1. Do we risk creating children as a medical commodity? Page 4-5
  2. Could it eventually lead to parents demanding genetically engineered children with good looks and intelligence? Page 5-6

  1. Are we fighting against nature?

            2.1) Is it correct? Page 6-7

  1. What are the arguments?

        3.1) Arguments For Designer Babies? Page 7

      3.2) Arguments Against Designer Babies? Page 8

  1. Conclusion  page 9-10
  2. Bibliography  page 11

Introduction

The term "designer baby" refers to the possibility of a baby that is created by genetic engineering that uses IVF, genetic screening, and alteration to ensure that the baby does or does not possess a particular gene or characteristic. “Designer Babies" is a term used more from the media, rather than scientists themselves. The reason why I chose this topic is simply because of all the controversial attention designer babies have been receiving within the media and also the lack of public acknowledgement about the process of the procedure.

Designer babies can be a quite controversial topic because although it can help scientists screen for embryos with genetic disorders and pick the healthy embryos to use in IVF, the advancements in genetic technologies used in designer babies may lead to parents being able to get their embryos modified and choose desirable characteristics. Some see it as the door to eugenics or perhaps even a more modern way of messing with ‘mother’ nature, while others see it as a way of eradicating diseases and improving the human race.

 Whether we should pursue and use this technology is the big question, which yet brings up conflicts amongst people and scientists.

Fertility Institutes recently started offering couples the opportunity to screen their embryos for complete characteristics, which involve eye colour, hair colour, and complexion. Fertility Institutes proudly claimed that this was just the icing to the cake, and therefore plan to offer pretty much any conceivable customization as technology now makes it available.

Opponents however condone the company for shattering moral and ethical boundaries.  Like it or not, the era of designer babies is officially here and there is no going back.

For decades a technology called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or also known as PGD, has enabled IVF clinics to screen embryos for numerous of potentially and often deadly diseases before the embryo is implanted into the mother’s womb. A medical revolution is unfolding in front of our eyes, its enabling literally thousands of couples and their babies to escape some of the world’s most gruelling diseases. Nevertheless, why should such be the case? How has our culture become extremely fixated and suddenly interested with reproductive lives of others?

The purpose of this procedure is to eliminate numerous flaws that cause imperfections on a baby, such as diseases, odd appearances, undesirable qualities, etc. The procedure has grown more advances over the years that even the simplest thing is being altered, such as eye, hair colour and complexion.

(This Image explains roughly how genetic screening works)

Is it a step too far?

  1. Do we risk creating children as a medical commodity?

Over the years, Scientist had found a range of solutions and ways to cure ill patients whether it was cancer, diabetes or influenza. Majority of the time a way was found, to heal those diseases by treating them the right way. However, scientists discovered that a lot of diseases could not be cured by describing some drugs some illnesses and/or diseases needed to be cured differently. There are many parents out there who were fortunate enough to have healthy and fit kids what else could they wish for? Giving birth to a healthy baby has not always been the case for some, in order for them to keep their ill babies alive and happy they would need to find a genetically perfect embryo, which would be a near perfect match to their life, threatened babies. The question to be asked is "Is this going to be a wanted child or is it a child that's only being made to be a donor to its older brother or sister?" If it were the matter, then the baby would be being treated as a commodity.

To see how wrong it may be to some let's invent an extreme case: If a child was being created just to provide a cure and was going to be sent off for adoption after the treatment was complete, that would clearly be classified as very wrong.

Join now!

However, in other cases the child is going to be a much-loved member of the family. The new baby will be loved for its own sake, and the special techniques being used are being used to bring additional benefits from the birth. A procedure like this does not happen as often within the UK as it is firmly not legal whiles it is in the United States. However, currently the case of women conceiving a designer baby within the UK is a 2 out of 10 rate.

If the new baby cannot provide suitable cells for the treatment, the parents ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Avatar

This is an argument for and against designer babies. The writer has used their own opinion throughout, without any backup from reliable sources such as journals or articles. Although most of the opinion is good and thoughtful it requires more explicit science. 3 stars.