...PRO Designer Babies Designer babies are the concept that involves the isolation of human embryos from a willing human donor. The individuals involved in the process are allowed to choose the traits and the genes that they desire to be present in the embryo and the eventual baby. The idea is technically called the liberal eugenics. Genetic engineering was incorporated in certain species of plants to modify crop yields and improve resistance to certain crop diseases. The scientists inserted a given gene into plasmid bacteria to ensure that the plant cell assumed the new DNA. The technology has allowed many plant species to thrive in harsh conditions, including cold, hot, and effectively resist pests. There are different edible foods, which have been designed through the technology. The last century has recorded discoveries that have involved immense benefits on human lives. The findings involve the use of genes, which refer to the reason behind the different characteristics and features among different humans. However, the new technology involves knowledge, which facilitates an alteration of the human characteristics. Humans have benefited from the technology of designer babies by elimination of the harmful genes as experienced in 2001 in Los Angeles. Contrarily, religion nd the society continue to question the social and moral well-being of creating a child with the traits that the parents desire. The opponents of the technology argue that genetic technology is uncertain and...
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...The Solutions to Designer Babies Perfection in terms of procreating was once a sky limit that was unreachable. In the pursuit of procreating the most perfect children, today’s society has proven this limit to be attainable. The issue of “designer babies” has shaken not only are nation’s values on the introduction of new children into the world, but also our unity as a society on this subject. Designer babies could arise problems in diversity around the world, the outnumbering of women in some countries, and social advantages to the wealthy. Split into two sides, our society continues to shift between what we believe is right and wrong regarding this new form of perfection. The future of genetic engineering (gene therapy) or “designer babies”...
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...Designer Babies, The horizon of gene technology broadens everyday along with the imagination of every human being. Designer babies a rather amusing as well as a controversial field in science could one day change the living world. The term ‘designer babies’ is used by people like journalists. A more scientific term would be ‘genetically modified babies’. Designing babies is actually more of a general term as this covers lots of different areas within. The points i am covering are genetics, diseases they can catch and the technology. The parents may pick a child to be smart, and he or she doesn't succeed, then they become upset because they would invested money and didn't get what they want.” Even though these advances sound beneficial and alluring, genetics advantages are not assured, disappointment can happen and this can cause a separation in our society such as getting bullied or knowing that your nothing like your parents. Changing the embryo will only take the surprise out of the natural way of having a child and only finding out the gender when the child is born .This may even lead to the increase risk of new foreign diseases being given to the child. My first argument against Designer Babies is about the safety of the technology used. Is it safe to use. There are several safety concerns about the technology, all of which lie within the physical alteration of the gene. Genes are very specific and will only work correctly in certain ways. Although scientists...
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...Is it Ethical to Produce Designer Babies? What if parents could have the child of their dreams? Now scientists are close to making it possible to where parents can design their own “perfect” child. It means that they will be able to pick out their child’s hair color, personality traits, and even if they want them to be athletic or not. According to, (www.infertility.com), out of 1000 surveyed, 40% of people said they would pick the traits of their child. Only 9% seen something wrong with the idea of designer babies. I am going to tell you about what exactly is a designer baby, the pros, and the cons of having a designer baby.. The positives: Take the case of Cindy and John Whitley. Their first child died at the age of 9 months from a deadly genetic disorder called spinal muscular atrophy. Genetic analysis uncovered that the Whitley’s statistically had a 1 in 4 chance of creating a child with spinal muscular atrophy each time they conceived. Unwilling to risk having another child with the deadly disorder, the Whitley’s used PGD to conceive three children, all healthy. To start off with, designer babies aren’t easy to develop it takes a lot of knowledge. According to research done by scientist Keith Kleiner, “…Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis is used with in vitro fertilization to look at embryos for over 100 diseases before it is in the mother.” After seeing what embryos have diseases they then destroy them. Scientist use in vitro fertilization to fertilize the eggs...
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...rapid development of technology has tremendous effects on changing the life of us, and possibly some of our children. Thanks to the immense progress of bio-techniques, creating a new individual with enhancement of selected traits has been partially realized on animals. For instance, some geneticists have introduced an additional gene NR2B into mouse genomes. Consequently, these genetic-modified mice learned things significantly faster from the environment and retained knowledge longer than other mice (Saenz, 2009). More importantly, some experts claim that similar technologies are within reach of creating designer babies in decades (Tokar, 2001). The term of “Designer Baby” is defined as the genetic modification of embryos in order to artificially...
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...Before the arrival of in vitro fertilization and genetic engineering, creating a designer baby was basically a science fiction conceptualization. In today’s day and age with the advances of modern technology a theory such as creating a designer baby could become a realization. An individual possesses the right to have free will and to exercise those rights with out any resistance. From an ethics standpoint, the reasoning by committing such an action has to be taken into account. Would it be strictly for fame and driven by an individuals ego? Or possibly to prevent a medical condition which is hereditary? If it is for the latter then we would have a society with a large population of designer babies. As per the textbook, “In the case of reproductive technology, ethical positions should be grounded on consideration of what furthers the future good of potential children, their individual parents, their families, and the moral standards of worth of the larger society” (Callahan, 2013, p. 74). However, our society is driven by competition and pressure to be perfect; so why wouldn’t an individual who has the resources not want to do anything possible to avoid harm to a newborn child? On the other hand, if creating a child with the intention of having the “perfect baby” is driven by an individual’s ego and fame then it may be viewed ethically wrong. Having a child is in the hands of mother nature. To begin to alter its fate and our sense of being would diminish the value of life...
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... Designer babies Lets say you want children especially a baby girl but doctors have told you several times its going to be hard for you conceive. designer babies is a term to described whose genetic make-up is selected by their parents.the technology is called pre-implanation genetic diagnosis.it was created to screen for disease, then used for gender selection. First, genetic screening can reduce amount of serious diseases. Second,the disadvantages of designer babies are health risks and ethical issue. Finally, this is a great opportunity for couples and single adults to have the child they've always desire. First, genetic screening can reduce amount of serious diseases scientist test the fetus to detect various genetic disorders. allows doctors to start early treatment to reduce or completely eliminate the effects of the disease. this test provides parents with critical information about their pregnancies. Scientist can alert the parents to be that they carrying an abnormal gene. Second,the disadvantages of designer babies are health risks and ethical issue the child or even yourself can be in danger because genetically engineered bacteria side affects can cause death in some cases allergies towards food can occur designer babies will not be able to develop normal like everyone...
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...believes the knowledge of designer babies can be useful to prevent impaired children and it is inevitable, Heather Long believes it is wrong and unnatural to choose children’s physical and psychological traits. I believe the only time where manipulating traits is an acceptable option is when scientists can prevent children from being impaired or disfigured. Heather Long utilizes the appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade her readers that designing babies is not to be permitted under any circumstance. Long displays a strong appeal to ethos when she says "I have known a number of people who have undergone IVF, often multiple times, and I wouldn't want to deny them a better chance at having it work out the first time around. But I have also known couples who couldn't afford IVF" (Long, 2). It is obvious that even though she knows designer babies can be a blessing, she stands by the idea that the consequences will be greater. Likewise, Long gives a wonderful use of pathos because she uses an example of a desperate Philadelphia couple wanting a child...
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...Designing your own baby is a very sophisticated and innovative thing; you can potentially free your child from having any mutations from occurring within their body and to screen possible diseases that will affect them. However, there are many negative standpoints that overpower the pros. A gap in society could be created, this would create classes that distinguish designer babies from those that are not. Potentially, there will be greatly dominated traits whereas, the lesser favoured traits will go extinct. A lack of genetic diversity has been shown to lead to defects and other problems. Lastly, the technology used is only in the experimental stages at this point, not to mention the costly effects. All in all, the question that should...
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...Designer Babies December 7, 2015 The prospect of designer babies, like many of the ethical dilemmas presented by the genetic revolution, is confronting the world so rapidly that doctors, ethicists, religious leaders and politicians are just starting to face with the implications, and trying to decide how they feel about it. Deciding the babies gender is just one of the many possibilities available with gene alteration. What must be considered though is the idea that this new development goes against our human nature. We are choosing how a human will look like and how his body will react to certain things before this person is even born, just like GMO’s in our food, an alteration of an organism so that it is better or even “perfect”. The ethical issues brought by this technique from the genetics labs are likely to be very complicated. What if parents can use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to avoid having kids with attention-deficit disorder or those predestined to be short or predisposed to homosexuality? Will they feel pressure from friends and relations to do so? And will kids who are allowed to be born with these characteristics be made to feel even more like second-class citizens than they do now? This technique is beginning to be more popular by the hour, and it is important that it is controlled in the correct way. This new development is incredibly powerful to the human race because it is capable of altering every little defect a human has or may have in the future...
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...Designer Babies December 7, 2015 The prospect of designer babies, like many of the ethical dilemmas presented by the genetic revolution, is confronting the world so rapidly that doctors, ethicists, religious leaders and politicians are just starting to face with the implications, and trying to decide how they feel about it. Deciding the babies gender is just one of the many possibilities available with gene alteration. What must be considered though is the idea that this new development goes against our human nature. We are choosing how a human will look like and how his body will react to certain things before this person is even born, just like GMO’s in our food, an alteration of an organism so that it is better or even “perfect”. The ethical issues brought by this technique from the genetics labs are likely to be very complicated. What if parents can use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to avoid having kids with attention-deficit disorder or those predestined to be short or predisposed to homosexuality? Will they feel pressure from friends and relations to do so? And will kids who are allowed to be born with these characteristics be made to feel even more like second-class citizens than they do now? This technique is beginning to be more popular by the hour, and it is important that it is controlled in the correct way. This new development is incredibly powerful to the human race because it is capable of altering every little defect a human has or may have in the future...
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...Mariah Bearden Student number: 22012910 Introduction to Biology, SCI 120 Research project number: 25088100 The fear is that in the future we may be able to use genetic technologies to modify embryos, and choose desirable or cosmetic characteristics. "Designer babies" is a term used by journalists to describe this frightening scenario. It's not a term used by scientists. Advanced reproductive techniques involve using InVitro Fertilization, or IVF for short, to fertilize eggs with sperm in 'test-tubes' outside the mother's body in a laboratory. These techniques allow doctors and parents to reduce the chance that the child will be born with a genetic disorder. The Designer Babies debate, today, is something that the public eye has been shielded from, and for good reasons. The Designer Babies debate is about how we are learning to sidestep nature, and how this could crumble society as we know it today. The Designer Babies ethical considerations come into play because of the effects this procedure will have. Families that can afford these alterations will be few, and this will only increase the disparity between the various social classes. This will ultimately result in a segregation between the superior 'modified' humans, and the pure inferior ones. The diversity of the gene pool and human genetics will be affected, and this may even lead to a big percentage of the human race being wiped out by some major disease. All of this is without considering the effect this procedure...
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...GENETIC ENGINEERING 1 Genetic engineering and the possibility of designer babies Cynthrea Bright International Management Dr. Matthew Ademola November 27, 2012 Introduction Shannon Brownlee is the acting director of the New America Health Policy Program and is also a nationally known writer and essayist. In March of 2002 she wrote an article for the Washington Monthly called Designer Babies. Brownlee explains the birth of cytoplasmic transfer in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process and the technical advances from this process that is making designer babies possible. Summary How is the creation of designer babies even possible? Well the process began with the creation of IVF and then in the 1990s embryologist Jacques Cohen created the process called cytoplasmic transfer. This process gave women who did not have success with normal IVF hope by placing cytoplasm from a fertile egg into the infertile women’s eggs. The first baby born from this process was in 1997 and at first was deemed a huge success and advancement in technology. Then 4 years later Cohen admitted to adding mitochondrial DNA to the embryo what in essence gave the child three parents, the mother, father and the mitochondrial DNA donor. This was the first form of human genetic modification and the long term ramifications are still unknown. One of the children born with the mitochondrial DNA has developed a mild form of autism but it has not been determined if it is because of the...
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...ENG100 Ryan Bloom 10 April 2013 Baby’s First Word: Designer There was once a time when the term designer was used only in terms of style and fashion. It was a choice between brands such as Gucci, Prada, or Armani and never a choice between disabilities, skin color, or gender. It is sad to say the word designer no longer applies to just materials anymore, it’s reached a new level; genetics. There is nothing ethical about being able to essentially manipulate the genes of a fetus to reflect characteristics deemed suitable by the parents. The characteristics chosen by the parents, such as a medical miracle match of genes to another sibling, set the child up to become what the parents want and not necessarily what the child wants to be. Genetic alteration of the baby also contributes to the unfairness that is gender preference and gender based discrimination. The possibility of genetic hierarchies, to which those that are not genetically enhanced are considered inferior, will increase tremendously because of the increasing gap between classes. It is understandable that technology is moving humanity towards a better more advanced future, but what shouldn’t be forgotten is that some things created in nature cannot be replaced by technology. Designer babies are just one of the few gray areas in which science infringes upon the way of nature. Scientists claim that not everything about genetically altered test tube babies can be considered bad. Science has been able to manipulate...
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...Designer Babies: Ethical or Unethical Designer babies are one of the most controversial issues in modern medicine. It can be seen as it being ethical by eliminating diseases and lead to an improved quality of life and longevity but also sees it as being unethical because it could possibly lead to the parent controlling the physical and or psychological features of a child. There are a couple of reasons why creating a designer baby can be beneficial health wise that some people may see it as being ethical but others sees it as unethical because couples are looking into designing their baby for physical traits more than health reason. Technology now a day’s make it possible to detect genetic disorders such as Down syndrome and Turner’s syndrome or many more. If the embryo is positive for a disorder the parents have the option to abort it. Another benefit by using this research it can get rid of all genetically transferred diseases leading to a future healthier population. Choosing donor physical and psychological traits essentially means that hopeful parents can buy a baby of their choice, picking everything from hair and eye color to skin color, height, and race. The so-called designer babies that come from such deliberate selection could in the future be created in a laboratory, as scientists understand enough about the human genetic code to possibly alter embryonic DNA for parents who want their babies to look and possibly act a certain way. The ethics of designer babies...
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