Designer Baby: Tomorrow’s Future

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Designer Baby: Tomorrow’s Future
Imagine a world where diseases, such as cancer, are obsolete and choosing babies physical appearance is the new fad—imagine the designer baby. A “designer baby” is an informal name used to describe a baby whose genetic makeup is altered through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) (see figure 1 for more information on the process). The term designer baby implies that a baby’s genetic makeup can be pieced together, as many do with clothes. Hence, a designer baby is essentially like designer clothes. Parents would have the power to cultivate the “perfect” baby. A baby who is disease free, physical designed to a parent’s likings. Thus, if parent wants their baby to have blonde hair, so be it! Or one prefers a baby with red hair and freckles go right ahead. We can all thank technology for such an opportunity… right? John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: “One has tremendous sympathy for couples who suffer infertility problems. But this seems to be a further illustration of the fact that the whole process of in vitro fertilization as a means of conceiving babies leads to babies being regarded as objects on a production line. It is a further and very worrying step down the wrong road for humanity” (Hanlon). Smeaton raises some interesting points; a baby should not be equated to designer clothes. Yet, whether we like it or not, the designer baby is in the works and happening. For example, Doctor Steinberg, director at The Fertility Institute, notes that PGD was initially designed to help those parents who cannot conceive. However, 70 percent of their clients can naturally conceive, but they want to choose the gender of their baby (Macleod). Adam N...

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...ce, in the case of PGD, government or health regulatory figures must intervene, and establish regulatory laws to avoid the risk of social inequalities.

Works Cited
Hanlon, Michael. “World’s First GM Babies Born.” Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Macleod, Carly. "Gender Selection Has Become A Multimillion-Dollar Industry." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Ghose, Tia. "Children to Order: The Ethics of 'Designer Babies'"LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Blavatsky, H. P. The Secret Doctrine. Wheaton, IL, U.S.A.: Quest, 1993. Print.
ESHRE 2001: Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) Consortium: data collection III. Human Reproduction 15/12.
"Fertility - Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)." RHTP. Reproductive Health Technologies Project, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

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