Analyzing Ronald M. Green's 'Building Baby From The Genes Up'

SUMMARY: Director of the Ethics Institute, Ronald M. Green, in his article “Building Baby from the Genes Up” discusses why he thinks that genetically modifying babies genes is more beneficial than destructive. He begins his article off by mentioning a story of a couple who wishe to genetically modify their baby so that they could make sure the baby would not develop the long family line of breast cancer. Green then notifies the reader that no matter where they stand on the matter, genetically modifying babies is going to become more and more popular. Even the National Institute of Health is beginning to invest in technology that can be used to genetically modify human genes. He then explains how genetically modifying human genes can be beneficial,

Green creates a strong emotional appeal so that he can connect with the audience. One of the strongest examples being his introduction. Green starts off his article with a story about how a British couple wanted to genetically modify their baby. They wanted to take this action so that it would not have the breast cancer gene, which runs in their family, passed onto it. Most would read that story and feel the sympathetic for the family wanting nothing more than a healthy child. This story not only grabs the reader's attention but also helps support his claim that genetically modifying human genes is a beneficial. Secondly, while mentioning the possible negative effects of genetically modifying babies he includes a sentence that should provoke thought in any caring person's mind. He asks the reader about the effects genetically modifying babies would have on a parents unconditional love and also their expectations. Will parents stop providing unconditional love and start packing on the expectations for the genes they designed? If a parent wants their child to become a basketball player, they may design their baby with better height. Once that child grows up they will have those expectations hanging over their head forever. Everyone can understand and imagine how sad of a world we would live in if all of us grew up with certain expectations. Green does a great job of

Often times referred to as designer babies, I find this topic very interesting and believe that it should be discussed more. As for my stance on the topic, I think that it is a great idea but, however, only to an extent. I think that if we are capable of changing a baby's genes so that they will not develop a deadly or potentially harmful disease, then I am all for it. On the other hand, however, I am not supportive of parents who want to genetically modify their baby for beauty purposes. We should leave our appearances up to mother nature. I do not think it is right to change genes for appearance whether it be making teeth whiter, eyes and hair a specific color, or changing their genes responsible for height. Personally, the fatal disease, Alzheimer's runs in my family and I would love to be able to prevent my children from potentially carrying the gene. While it would be nice to be able to “design” my baby, the surprise is so much better. Not knowing whether your child will have blue or brown eyes and blonde or brown hair is a wonderful surprise in my opinion. The somewhat randomness makes us all unique. We should allow them to grow up while not having certain expectations following them around for their entire