Bryan Dela Cruz
Period 4
Description:
Designer babies are babies whose genetic makeup has been selected in order to eradicate “bad” genes, modify hereditary traits or to ensure that a particular gene is present
According to Popular Mechanics and Medical Daily:
To make a designer baby, there are many steps and processes that have to be successful first....
These steps include:
1. Creating an Embryo with In-vitro fertilization (IVF).
2. Removing a single cell from that embryo within
the first 5 days of creation
3. Genetically testing the cell.
4. The parents decide whether to discard the embryo or implant it in the mother's womb.
The genetic selection of Embryo's is called Pre- implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). this is a popular way to select an embryo so parents can:
Check for diseases such as Huntington's disease and cystic
fibrosis or genetic conditions such as Down's syndrome.
Create a healthy baby to treat a sick sibling.
To select the sex of a future child
For just an extra few thousand dollars, women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) could one day choose to have a baby boy with perfect vision, an aptitude for sports and a virtual lock on avoiding colon cancer. Fertility clinics in the U.S. currently offer not only to screen for diseases, but also to choose gender. They are not yet offering any further customization, but that could change as genetic mapping gets faster and easier.
Last year, a California company said it could screen for hair and skin color, but soon retracted the claim amid a firestorm of protest. (Research like this has prompted Pope Benedict to condemn "the obsessive search for the perfect child.") The best screening test on the market is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis. PGD, developed to prevent births of children with severe disorders, screens chromosomes from one or two of an embryo's cells for abnormalities. Depending on the results, the IVF embryo is either implanted in the mother, donated for research or destroyed.
Benefits:
1. With genetic engineering, most of the diseases and illnesses can easily be prevented through detecting the animals, plants and people who are genetically prone in a certain hereditary diseases.
2. There are also infectious diseases that can also be treated with the use of genetic engineering through implanting the genes that are associated with antigen and antiviral proteins.
3. With genetic engineering, plants and animals can easily determine their desirable characteristics. The genes can be manipulated especially in trees since when the carbon dioxide is being absorbed and this is one of the reasons why the threat for global warming is highly reduced.
4. Genetic engineering has the ability to increase the genetic diversity as well as produce variant alleles that can be implanted to other species. It is also possible to change the heredity of the wheat plants and grow insulin
Take Cindy and John Whitley for example, 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(Pre-implantation diagnosis) to conceive three children, all healthy.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is the profiling of embryos before implantation, and sometimes even oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered similar to prenatal diagnosis. When PGD is used to screen a genetic disease, its main advantage is that it makes the baby highly likely free of the disease.
Risks:
This genetic concept is experimental and can potentially cause mutations and drawbacks to the child’s physical and mental stability. After all, a single mistake in the gene modification; even the tiniest bit can cause diseases such as: color blindness, phenylketonuria, Tay-Sachs, etc.
“A variation as small as one nucleotide in the DNA sequence can disrupt a gene severely; these deleterious alterations in DNA sequence are called genetic mutations. Genetic conditions such as Huntington Disease, cystic fibrosis, or sickle cell disease are caused by mutations in single genes”
“The genomes of any two people are 99.9 percent identical. The 0.1 percent difference in DNA sequence between individuals makes each person genetically unique. These differences in DNA sequence often are referred to as genetic variations. Most genetic variations carry no harmful effects. Some variations, however, can cause disease or increase one’s risk of developing disease”
Interviewees:
Interviewee (i.e parent) | Question |
1.Mother | Q.) If you are given an option to change how your baby will look when he/she is born, will you take it? A.) Of course, because then i wouldn't have an ugly child like you |
2.Uncle | Q.)The fact that it is for the sake of human scientific progress, do you think that this is for the good? A.)We humans have evolved to reach the potential of making things like this happen. As long as it helps us grow to be better people, i think this is just. |
3.Mom’s Friend | Q.)Designer babies include the modification of the genes; which gives you a choice on what you want your child to look like. Do you think this is acceptable to the fashion society? A.) The fashion society doesn't give a heck about morals. To them this is absolutely moral. |
4.Father | Q.)Do you think that the genetic modification of a child that includes the alteration of future behavior acceptable? A.)Yes. I would totally support that because then the world will have less bad people. |
5.Friend | Q.)Is this moral? A.) Not at all mate |
Reflection:
This genetic engineering concept is neither moral or immoral. It all depends on who you ask. People are diverse and have different religious, social, and cultural beliefs on this topic. If you ask me, i believe that genetic modification is immoral.Why might it be immoral?
The genetic modification of humans not only alters the genetic code of the person, but also every generation that stems from them. This is immoral, because this destroys the genetic heritage of the modified person. If you were the person, you would lose some but not all specific traits and behaviors that your father and mother have and their ancestors.
I deeply believe that genetic engineering is immoral, because being flawed is the best part about humanity. Without mankind's imperfections, the world wouldn't be diverse and there would be no competition. After all, we live in a world that lives by a saying: "Survival of the Fittest". Making mistakes is what makes each and everyone one of us 'human'.
The genetic modification of humans not only alters the genetic code of the person, but also every generation that stems from them. This is immoral, because this destroys the genetic heritage of the modified person. If you were the person, you would lose some but not all specific traits and behaviors that your father and mother have and their ancestors.
I deeply believe that genetic engineering is immoral, because being flawed is the best part about humanity. Without mankind's imperfections, the world wouldn't be diverse and there would be no competition. After all, we live in a world that lives by a saying: "Survival of the Fittest". Making mistakes is what makes each and everyone one of us 'human'.
Citations:
- What is a designer baby? (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
- Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
- Ghose, B. (2014, March 13). Children to Order: The Ethics of 'Designer Babies' Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/44087-designer-babies-ethics.html
- Designer baby. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_baby
- Designer Babies: The Good and the Bad. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://designerbabies.weebly.com/cons.html
- Should there be designer babies? (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-there-be-designer-babies
- Apecsec.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://apecsec.org/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-genetic-engineering/
No comments:
Post a Comment