Question: “Designer babies” is the term being used by the media to describe the future of modifying or selecting our children's genes for desirable characteristics (medical and cosmetic). Are things getting out of hand with our research into genetic processes? In this blog investigate social and ethical implications of this research and technologies that have been developed from it.
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The other day I was on www.formspring.me, a website to ask your friends’ questions anonymously, and something caught my attention. My friend was asked a question, “describe your ideal girl,” his answer was a list of both physical and personality attributes he considers to find within a girl. His list consists of:

• perfect lips
• nice smile
• cute eyes
• athletic
• nice hair
• …and not to be surprised a girl with nice features.

This got me thinking, is it possible for a human being to possess flawless attributes? Let’s disregard a dream and get realistic. It is not possible for someone to find a person that fulfill all this expectation. While, a person strives hard in search for a perfect man/woman, why don’t we just simulate this dream into reality through, “designing babies?”

According to journalist, the controversial topic of designer babies is defined as “a baby whose genetic make-up has been artificially altered by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilisation to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes and characteristics.” It combines natural science and reproductive technology together. The advance in reproductive technology allows parents and doctors through screen embryos for any genetic disorders. This technology is called In Vitro Fertilization, a process which involves the fertilization of the egg with the sperm in ‘test tubes’ – outside of the mother’s womb. With this technology, doctors are able to eliminate the chances of a child being born with genetic disorders as well as put a little touch of their own from the parents. In other words, this gives parents and doctors the ability to manipulate babies’ genes to make it suit their expectation, such as immune to sickness, athletic, intelligent, and healthy.



The method of designer babies has been a colloquial topic as people recognize the pros and cons it brings to today’s society.

Pros:

The major use of designer babies is to eliminate a baby’s chance of acquiring genetic characteristics with a serious disease. Families would worry less of supporting and nurturing a child who suffers from serious diseases and abnormalities. Parents would be able to choose the physical attributes of the child they conceive. This is like creating a character for your Wii or Sims game, choosing how the eyes, mouth, nose, and everything else would look like.



Cons:

So after a child has been “manufactured”, what ethical and social problem would occur? First of all, who can afford genetic engineering? The answer is: only the rich. Designing a baby can cost over $18, 000 either change them cosmetically, or eliminating genes with diseases. The problem with genetic engineering is it will cause social divisions. The poor will not be able to genetically alter their children to be immune to sickness, thus, the poor will suffer and die due to diseases. While, the rich can further develop themselves by “creating” the most prolific babies that could potentially be the greatest athletes, the greatest scientists, the best musicians. This will only cause a division between the rich and poor. The poor will be looked down even more because they will be insignificant in the long run. They will be excluded from society and discriminated because they do not possess enhanced traits and abilities. The question is, are these people still humans? Genetically engineering a babies genes and characteristics and interfering with the natural process of the babies formation can technically be considered as a mutation.

In conclusion:

While God created us in his image, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27. It is inevitable to say that through designer babies we are interfering with natural procreation. In my opinion, we should be contented with the physical attributes that we have if this is the reason why people perform genetic engineering. Variety is the spice of life. It would be too boring if everyone is perfect. If people perform genetic engineering to change the possibilities of a baby acquiring defects and disease, I don’t see the problem in this. However, we should do it in moderation. Like the American health-care system, it should be approved or not depending on the seriousness of the family history with that certain type of disease. Genetic engineering and designer babies is a controversial problem that we need to take seriously, we need to be careful because it is a complicated process and may cause the breakout of new viruses and diseases. We have to accept the person we are here on earth and be satisfied with the flaws in us.


References:
http://biotech.about.com/od/stemcellresear2/i/designerbaby_2.htm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm