...years ago, this was not possible. Now we are able to decide the sex of our children, and get rid of many genetic conditions or chromosomal disorders. Also, with upcoming technology, we could even choose the physical features and cognitive strengths of our children. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) or embryo screening is the technique used to identify genetic defects in embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) before pregnancy. When one or more parents are known to have a genetic disorder, this screening is performed on the embryo to determine if the child will also have the same genetic disorder (Medscape). In the lab fertilization occurs among the egg and the sperm, and then on day three, a cell is removed and is tested for any genetic disorders. If the cells are detected for a genetic disorder, those genes are removed and only the non-effected genes are placed back into the embryo and placed into the mother by IVF. Besides testing for genetic disorders, when taking out the cell, geneticists, can also detect the sex of the child and change it depending on what the parents want (Medscape). PGD has started a big debate on where to draw the line. With technology advancements, PGD will soon be able to detect what genes depict hair and eye color, cognitive and physical functions, and everything else that makes up a human. Like being able to get rid of genetic disorders, creating the perfect person will not be that hard. Most people would want to create the ultimate...
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...neurologist, Dr. Bernard Sachs. TSD is a regressive genetic disorder, in which symptoms usually develop within the first six months of life and usually ends fatally around four to five years of life. Steven Ainsworth says TSD is, “caused by the absence of a vital enzyme called hexosaminidase-A. Without this enzyme, a fatty substance called ganglioside builds up in the cells of the nervous system, causing them to stop working normally and eventually killing them.” (31). This basically stops development, including respiratory, motor, and several other functions. Tay-Sachs disease has plagued mankind for over a century, and with no treatment or cure discovered mankind is left with three main approaches to prevent and reduce the incidence of the disease. According to Hilary Vallance and Jason Ford, it was in 1970 that carrier testing was introduced for TSD by measuring the activity of hexosaminidase isoenzymes (476). This screening allowed individuals from high risk groups, like the Jewish community, to be identified as carriers. Vallance and Ford also said, “In North America since 1983, there have been 3 to 5 TSD-affected children born per year compared with approximately 60 new cases per year prior to screening.” (476). If these high risk couples that choose to try and have children they are left with two options, prenatal diagnosis or preimplantation diagnosis. For couples who choose to go with a preimplantation diagnosis, this is done by in vitro fertilization, where...
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...Melissa Stapleton Ms. Perryman SBI4U May 21st, 2013 My Sisters Keeper Every day people face challenges that are affected by what we feel is morally right or not. One topic in particular however, is an ongoing battle of ethical morality and this topic has to do with the problem surrounding the reasons for designer babies. A designer baby is defined as “a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics". (Web Source) Some people say that this process is unnatural and should never have even been created. Others say that this process is the way of the future, and that everyone should undergo this operation. Whichever side people lie on, there are valid points for both sides of the argument. Personally, I believe that children should not be produced for medical reasons under any circumstances because it would create an in equality amongst society, it could cause harmful long term effects and it takes away the child’s rights. Firstly, if this process gained popularity it would create an inequality amongst society and create children with added benefits. The process that creates designer babies is called Vitro Fertilization and it involves “monitoring and stimulating the development of healthy egg(s) in the ovaries. Then collecting the eggs and securing the sperm. Then combining the eggs and sperm together in the laboratory and provide...
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...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 fetuses to be born with distinct genes and traits that are considered “savior” because everything about them can be used to help an ailing sibling. The process of selectively screening certain genetic traits and then re-implanting them back into the mother is called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis. The term designer is derived from this...
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...How could some presymptomatic testing be considered toxic for the individual testing, especially testing at an early age? Nevertheless, many parents seek genetic testing of their children, especially for situations in which a genetic disease is known to be present in the family. They may have different reasons for wanting their children tested. These requests create a dilemma for pediatricians. The dilemmas arise, in part, because not all “adult-onset” diseases are alike. Sometimes, there are interventions that may be beneficial in childhood; sometimes, parents seek the reassurance that might come with a negative test result. The requirements for the diagnosis of Huntington's disease (HD) include medical history, family history, neurological examination, brain imaging testing (including magnetic resonance imaging or MRI and computerized tomography or CT), laboratory tests, and genetic testing (when necessary). Side Effects: • MRI: Small children have to be sedated because they must lay PERFECTLY still (which little kids aren't willing to do) for up to 45 minutes (impossible for even the most patient children), and the machine can freak them out. (It's loud and a very small space.) Side effects of the drugs are sleepiness (obviously), nausea, vomiting, irratibility. Sometime headaches and temporary light sensitivity, but it's rare and depends on the drug they use. • CT scans (also known as CAT scans) create 3-dimensional pictures using ionizing radiation. On a daily basis...
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...Running head: ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL DILEMMA Analysis of Ethical Dilemma Deanna Romain Grand Canyon University Ethical Decision Making in Health Care NRS 437V Jennifer Wood August 28, 2011 Analysis of Ethical Dilemma Is gender selection of a fetus ethical? With new advances in reproductive technology, parents can not only find out if their embryo has genetic abnormalities, they can also find out the gender of their embryo. The ethical dilemma is whether or not one should be able to choose their child’s gender before implantation. Some compare this method of gender selection to human cloning. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is the testing of the chromosomes of the embryo to determine genetic abnormalities and gender prior to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). In the United States, gender selection by PGD is considered a violation of ethical practices for non-medical purposes (Akchurin, n.d.) CNN.com reported recently that a new blood test has been discovered which can determine the sex of a fetus as early as seven weeks gestation. This achievement was reported in the Journal of American Medical Association in August. This technology is already starting ethical debates fearing parents will use this technology for sex determination and abort healthy fetuses (Ravitsky, 2011). This new technology could also be beneficial in determining gender if their child is at risk for a sex-linked disease such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy or hemophilia. In China and India, there...
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...parents Lesley Brown and John Brown met Drs Edwards and Steptoe, they had been trying to conceive a baby for nine years, but never succeeded. Because Lesley Brown was diagnosed with fallopian tubes obstruction, at that time, it indeed meant hopelessness of being pregnant without a miracle. Then the ungovernable longings for having a baby impelled Lesley Brown to participated in Drs Edwards and Steptoe's experiments. Lesley Brown was not the only volunteer during the procedure, but she fortunately became the first successful case (Deech & Smajdor，2007). At present, 4 million "test tube" babies have been born around the world（website), thanks to Drs Edwards and Steptoe's great contribution from 1977. But what if geneticists announce that genetics and traits can be predetermined for unborn babies today? Then what will parents order for their new babies? Blond hair or ruddy eyes? Bird’s wings or fish's gills? How about the mermaid’s beauty and Einstein's intelligence? Those questions need to be reflected by young generations, because that may be no longer an imagination of the future. Jeffrey Steinberg, a pioneer of in vitro fertilization (IVF), and the founder of the LA Fertility Institute as well, has already maintained in 2009 that his clinic would carry out trait-selected serves soon (Mara, 2011). Since the first efficacious treatment of infertility, IVF is still being improved. Besides, ethical and regulatory issues around this new technique never stop making controversy...
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...Human Gender Selecting Jessica McIntosh Medical Office Management Dr. Bridget Kelly Bryant & Stratton ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide a concise review of the ethical issues that are commonly raised in the debate between non-medical sex selection and natural selection. Background information on sex selection technologies is provided, as is a description of the process regarding the medical procedure. Arguments for and against gender selection will be explained and compared and conclusions will be drawn. Included will be the pros and cons of gender selection. Finally, the views of people I know as well as my own. Aside from cases in which it is used to prevent an inherited disease more likely to strike one gender than the other, should parents be permitted to use technology that selects the gender of their children? One of the first pieces of information that parents receive about a newborn baby is its gender. The widespread use of ultrasound technology during pregnancy even allows many parents to find out whether their baby is male or female before it is born. In recent years, technology has enabled parents to go one step further. They can now, with a good chance of success, take steps to select the gender of their children. While gender selection is legal in the U.S., it has generated some controversy among the medical advisory groups that tackle questions of bioethics. For instance, although the sperm-separation method is widely endorsed for families...
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...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 with the sperm. It allows doctors to reduce that the child is born with a less of a chance with a disorder. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis only allows good embryos back into the mother. In the future, scientists will be able to cure genetic diseases. However, the positives of designing the “perfect” child are that more children would less likely be born without a disease such as Down...
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...Awarded the Legal Right to Choose the Sex of Their Child: Abstract: Sex selection, also known as gender selection, has attracted great interest and controversy over the years. Gender selection has been associated with a number of ethical, moral, social and legal issues. Sex selection may be performed for medical reasons to avoid sex-linked diseases or for parental preference. The topics I will be covering include eugenics, beneficence, utilitarianism and pre-genetic screening in regards to sex linked diseases. Eugenics can be defined as the study or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species. In the context of IVF, treatment positive eugenics encourages reproduction by implantation of healthy embryos with inheritable desirable traits and negative eugenics seeks to identify and dispose of embryos found to carry undesirable inheritable traits. Introduction: Utilitarianism in the context of IVF sex selection and genetic screening is defined by the principle of utility, which seeks to judge moral rules, actions and behaviors based on their consequences. Where an action produces the best possible outcome, that being the greatest good for the greatest number it is seen as ethical and moral. Therefore, the testing, screening and disposal of genetically impaired embryos and implantation of only healthy and preferred embryos is justifiable because the outcome is seen as beneficial for the majority. ...
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...From reading, we can say that the possibility of achieving ectogenesis or the growing of a human fetus to term in an artificial womb,is approaching reality as a result of advances in treatment of premature newborns and in vitro fertilization. In one of their famous books, Peter Singer and Deane Wells offered many strong arguments for Ectogenesis. Based on what they said, ectogenesis offers a less problematic alternative to surrogate motherwood, and that ectogenesis could make it possible to reconcile fetal rights with the right to abortion on demand. Also the childless has a claim to state support of their desire to nurturebut believe that the government supported ectogenesis should stil be rejected because the adoption of unwanted children...
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...Nicolas Moy Dr. Sheila Abraham BIOL 2633 01 March 2, 2012 DVD Project “Who’s Afraid of Designer Babies? The Ethics of Genetic Screening” An Australian family with a son diagnosed with a rare disease called “Hyper IGM” which essentially is a congenital condition in which a person is born with a vital piece of his/her immune system missing requiring that they receive constant blood transfusions. In this case, the couple goes through a PGD procedure making another child with no disease to cure the oldest child. This procedure of PGD to identify a unimpaired embryo Summary Leanne and Stephen, the Australian couple are in desperate search for a cure to treat their son, BJ’ fatal disease in which doctors determined that the medical name of BJ’s disease is called “Hyper IGM” which is a rare disease, actually, so rare that 2 out of every million children born are diagnosed with this condition. Using PGD (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), doctors who specialize in assisted reproduction helped Leanne and Stephen in the journey to find a solution to their child’s issue. The plan would be to essentially create a “extra-parts baby” by testing for a disease-free and HLA matching embryo. If successful, this would procedure would use the blood tissue from the newborn to cure BJ. Of course, once this case hit the public ethical debates arise. One very predominant argument was whether by allowing this couple to proceed with this procedure for therapy, this could potentially...
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...Professor 07/26/2015 Chromosome Number Four The purpose of this paper is to explore the association of crisis intervention relative to nursing and genetics related to Huntington’s disease (HD). The focus will touch on several different topics associated with pre-emptive testing, pregnancy, educational barriers, strengths, signs and symptoms related to the potential of having an aneuploidy fetus. Also, the importance of time sensitive decisions during pregnancy, social support for potential results, financial resources and hardship related to testing. Additionally, the potential for impaired early on-set compromised cognitive functioning linked to Huntington’s disease. Finally, incorporating the expanded role of the professional nursing scope, practice, and ethical dilemmas associated with Huntington’s disease. Chorea a Brief History Huntington-Chorea was identified in 1872 as a rare inherited disorder secondary to “Chorea” jerky uncontrolled movements (Mandal, 2014). Chorea is Greek in origin and defined as “dancing in unison” (Merck Manual, 2015). 1872 the jerky movements were thought to be divine intervention or demon possession that required a type of exorcism to expel (Jumreornvong, 2015). Additionally, with the evolution of genetics in 1983 according to the US-Venezuela Huntington Disease Collaborative Research Project an approximate location of the gene was identified (Mandal, 2014). Likewise, in 1993 the precise...
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...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 is questionable for several reasons. On the one hand, by removing random selection from the reproductive process the parents-to-become dangerously close to practicing eugenics: a form of "demographic control" usually associated with racism. On the other hand, the ability to create...
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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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