Modern society has an unquestionable preoccupation with perfection. Indulging in our vanities with things such as plastic surgery, veneers, botox, collagen, hair dye, and so on, have become a part of the socially acceptable norm. People do these things, and more, in an attempt to become their ideal selves. However, many are taking these practices to a completely new extreme, and are not stopping at just altering their own physical characteristics. With recent advances in medical science and technology, couples are now able to genetically modify embryos to create their ideal children. From gender, to eye color, hair color, height, body shape, and more, modern parents have the ability to leave little up to nature and take the designing of their child into their own hands. Whether it is ethical, or not, to engineer designer babies is a highly controversial topic with numerous pros and cons.
Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is the contentious technology fertility specialists use to engineer what are commonly referred to as designer babies. There are countless experts, scientists, and physicians that fall on either side of the designer baby argument. In an article from CBS News, Dr. Arthur Caplan, Ph.D (director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania) counters fertility specialist Dr. Jeff Steinberg’s (director of Fertility Institute in Los Angeles) opinion on PGD. In the article Designer Babies: Creating the Perfect Child for CNN Tech, Richard Hayes, the Executive Director of The Center for Genetics and Society, made comments on this hot debate.
For centuries, people have been having beautiful, healthy children the au natural way. Many would argue that there is absolutely no reason to tamper with na...
... middle of paper ...
...t is hard to ignore the great opportunities this science can pose. Things can only get better as technology and knowledge advances.
With such a controversial science, there are obviously going to be numerous pros and cons. However, each person’s opinion will vary based upon his or her own moral values and beliefs. Using Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis to design babies is definitely a huge step for medical technology; yet, whether it is a step in the right or wrong direction is solely up to your own personal interpretation.
Works Cited
Kauffman, Hattie. ""Designer Babies" Ethical?" The Early Show - CBS News. CBS
News, 03 Mar. 2009. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .
Steere, Mike. "Designer Babies: Creating the Perfect Child - Page 2 - CNN." Featured
Articles from CNN. CNN Tech, 30 Oct. 2008. Web. 07 Mar. 2011.
.
From designer purses to designer shoes, each one is created single handedly by one person, or the designer. Shaping and molding an item to their specific standards. Through advances in genetic modification scientists have now been able to change, or design an embryotic cell to remove some hereditary genes. Through Richard Hayes’s, Genetically Modified Humans? No Thanks, and Ronald Green’s, Building Baby from the Genes Up, they both touch on the negative and positives of genetically modifying human traits in an embryotic cell. Hayes’s article is a critique of Greens but also provides many key argumentative point again the use of genetic modification. Having access to the technology and knowledge to provide children with either less of a chance or no changes to receive hereditary diseases like cancer makes the case of using genetic modification
A person's individuality begins at conception and develops throughout life. These natural developments can now be changed through genetically engineering a human embryo. Through this process, gender, eye and hair color, height, medical disorders, and many more qualities can be changed. I believe genetically engineering a human embryo is corrupt because it is morally unacceptable, violates the child's rights, and creates an even more divided society.
To choose for their children, the world’s wealthy class will soon have options such as tall, pretty, athletic, intelligent, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Occasionally referred to as similar to “the eugenics of Hitler’s Third Reich” (“Designer Babies” n.p.), the new genetics technology is causing differences in people’s opinions, despite altering DNA before implantation is “just around the corner.” (Thadani n.p.). A recent advance in genetically altering embryos coined “designer babies” produces controversy about the morality of this process.
Sarah Ly is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania where she studied biomedical sciences and neurobiology and at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where part of her work involved genes and genomics. Ly received the National Merit Scholarship as well as the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship. In her article, “Ethics of Designer Babies,” author Sarah Ly explains that the concept of in vitro fertilization has become a reality and with that, genetically engineered embryos are evolving, thus many people believe regulations are needed. The article states that many believe it should just be used when the child is at risk of a genetic disease and should not be used to permit parents to decide the fate of their children by picking traits.
A “designer baby” is a baby genetically engineered in vitro for specially selected traits, which can vary from lowered disease-risk to gender selection to eye, or hair color. Before genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization (IVF), “designer babies” were only a science fiction concept. However, the rapid pace of technology makes designer babies an increasingly real possibility. Designer babies represent an area within embryology that has not yet become a practical reality, but has started to draw out ethical concerns about whether or not it will become necessary to put on some limitations regarding designer babies in the future. Vitro Fertilization helps infertile couples become pregnant by joining the egg and sperm together in an embryology laboratory where embryos are
Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary diseases, the genetic enhancement of human embryos is unethical when used to create "designer babies" with enhanced appearance, athletic ability, and intelligence.
...t natural. Natural would be in the womb and not in a petri dish. Those who design children take the easy way out of parenting. They are practically saying they have no time to put into their child’s future so they will just pay for it.
Genetically engineered babies also known as “Designer Babies” are children that are modified to your wants and desirer in what you want your child to look like. Typically women only use this procedure if they are infertile. The women decide what hair, eye color, or gender the baby is by doing this procedure. In this essay, I will explain how they’re made, the different religious debates about it, and why you shouldn’t do it.
A man and woman walk into an office where they are greeted by a fertility specialist, who then sets them in front of a computer. Here, the couple is able to scroll through various traits and characteristics, then mix and match them onto a computer generated infant so they can see how their chosen attributes will look when paired together. The man and woman decide on a baby boy with cornsilk blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Their future son will grow to 6 feet tall with an athletic build, have a genius IQ, and a predisposition for baseball. The doctor takes their order, and then schedules an appointment with the soon-to-be-parents to implant the embryo containing all those traits into the mother. While this scene may seem like a moment out of a science fiction novel, it is not too far off what very well may be available in the near future. Medical sciences and technologies are advancing rapidly, and in a society completely preoccupied with obtaining perfection, it should be no surprise to anyone that scientists are playing around with the idea of genetically engineering perfect humans. It is one thing to make the decision to enhance oneself with things like plastic surgery, steroids, collagen, herbal supplements, and so on. There is also nothing wrong with studying hard and practicing in a certain skill to reach expertise. But is it right to decide the fate of a child before he or she even has a chance to decide what they want for their self? Not only is there the sheer matter of right versus wrong, but there also many serious consequences to using such extreme sciences. Because these are new, experimental technologies, there is no predicting what adverse medical effects genetic modification could have on a child. Another plight...
This is a valid concern however, the same concern was brought forward when in vitro fertilization was first discovered. Today, in vitro fertilization is seen as a miracle when a family who previously wasn’t able to conceive has a healthy child welcomed to their family. We also see in vitro fertilization as a normal medical procedure in today’s time and although the worries were similar to those of designer babies, only good has come out of
What do one think of when they hear the words “Designer Babies”? A couple designing their own baby of course, and it’s become just that. Technology has made it possible for there to be a way for doctors to modify a babies characteristics and its health. Genetically altering human embryos is morally wrong, and can cause a disservice to the parents and the child its effecting.
In recent years, great advancement has been made in medicine and technology. Advanced technologies in reproduction have allowed doctors and parents the ability to screen for genetic disorders (Suter, 2007). Through preimplantation genetic diagnosis, prospective parents undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) can now have their embryo tested for genetic defects and reduce the chance of the child being born with a genetic disorder (Suter, 2007). This type of technology can open the door and possibility to enhance desirable traits and characteristics in their child. Parents can possibly choose the sex, hair color and eyes or stature. This possibility of selecting desirable traits opens a new world of possible designer babies (Mahoney,
Have you ever heard of the capability to genetically engineer a child? Neither have many of the others around you. There are babies that are born through in-vitro fertilization, a process by which a baby is conceived outside the body and then genetically altered (or personalized) to meet the requirements of this babies’ parents. They could possibly alter a gene that codes for cancer, or simply change their child’s hair to curly, because that is what they prefer. It seems simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t quite that simple.
Prenatal genetic screening in particular is a polarizing topic of discussion, more specifically, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). PGD is one of the two techniques commonly used to genetically screen embryos in vitro; it is usually done at the eight-cell stage of division. PGD is most often performed when there is the risk that one or both parents carry disease-causing mutations. It is extensively used by high-risk individuals trying to conceive babes who will be free of particular mutations. PGD can test for over 50 genetic conditions and even allows for sex selection if there are underlying gender-associated medical conditions. When the results are satisfactory, the selected embryo is implanted into the mother’s uterus. While a controversial technique, preimplantation genetic diagnosis is one example of some of the good genetic testing can do, more benefits will be furthe...
Science has taken another step forward into the future of mankind by empowering parents to give their children the best start possible. We are now presented the opportunity to decide what personality and features we want our kids to have before their even born. Although at first glance, it may seem amazing and feel as if you’re picking the exact candy bar you want at a convenient store. However, are we ready for mankind to play, what some might call “God”? Is messing with the genetic code in our babies morally right? Or is it wrong? These are questions being brought up towards the matter of genetically engineering our babies. Danielle Simmons mentioned in the 2008 Nature Education that “Genes influence health and disease, as well as human traits and behavior”. Well genetic engineering on human genes has been going on for a long period of time now. It has also been performed on babies of women who were having trouble conceiving to prevent birth deficiency and help produce a healthy baby. As time went on, scientist became more precise and accurate in the genetic engineering of human genes (Simmons). Scientist is now able to help parents make their baby exactly the way, they prefer. Now that we are able to engineer the genetic code in humans to this extent, we can now produce a healthier generation that will have our ideal traits and behavior.