Not very long ago, creating a baby was simple and didn't require much thought. But today, parents can gain access to the latest technology to test genes and determine their baby's sex beforehand. It is said that scientists are planning on enhancing gene modification to the extent that a great amount of attributes could be chosen for the baby. These attributes include the probability of their height, their body type, hair and eye colour, and even what illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, their IQ and type of personality. Parents may even be able to use the possibility of gene therapy enhancement in the future to take out undesired traits they have for their baby and put in the ones they want. Parents may begin to start "shopping" for their babies instead of creating them naturally and God-made. Are humans taking this all too far when it comes to genetic modification and selection?
How are babies "designed"? Since females contain 2 X chromosomes, it is up to the male who carries an X and a Y chromosome to determine the gender of the baby. Y chromosomes have less DNA than X chromosomes. By staining the sperm's DNA with a nontoxic light-sensitive dye in order to sort the sperms by gender. This process is risky for society however, because places such as China or India already favour one gender. Therefore, if they are able to choose favourably which gender or attributes they prefer, society will become so unequally balanced! That sounds a lot like creating robots or superkids not babies.
At the moment, the only traits which are able to be identified at the earliest stages of development are gender as well as a few of the most serious genetic diseases. The combination of genes responsible for most of our physical and mental attributes has not even been identified yet, although scientific research and technology are advancing. Scientists say that the purpose of creating these genetic modification and selection techniques for designer babies will be meant for medical reasons, mainly being the prevention of diseases. However, if parents everywhere are already aware that this type of technology is becoming available and they could literally design their babies, knowing that some medical clinics would allow for genetic modification without a medical reason, what's stopping them?
Of course though, because these genetic modification processes are still imperfect, social and ethical implications have and will continue to develop. When it was first known that choosing the gender of your future child's gender, many people were unsure of how to react or feel about it. It seemed so unnatural and mysterious.Implications which have arisen are whether genetic modification technology is safe enough to be used on humans as well as whether using them is a moral or immoral decision. It is true that genetic modification is being used for morally harmless benefits such as farmers who plant crops with altered genomes in order to make them resistant of pests or herbicides but the concern involves morality. A study at Princeton University was made using mice. Mice genomes were introduced to a copy of a gene called NR2B which plays a role in the brain. The resulting mice appeared to learn quicker than the other natural mice. The NR2B gene also exists in humans. Before speculating whether it will perform the same effect on humans though, safety concerns must be taken care of. There is a fear of the NR2B gene disrupting the function of another gene that is crucial for survival. Another is that multiple effects will occur because for the mice, even though their memory and learning skills were improved, they were also more pain sensitive. It is difficult to find solutions to these problems because finding the right combination of genes to make the right reaction isn't easy.
Blue tomatoes, mass productions of poultry and now designer babies. Are things getting out of hand with genetic research? I don't believe that there could be too much knowledge, so simply researching and experimenting is perfectly fine and I also think for serious medical purposes, GM is understandable. However, if people and parents are going to start using genetic modification for puposes such as cosmetic attributes, then yes things will get out of hand. Parents will begin to want to create perfect children of their exact preference. That is unfair to others and seems morally wrong to many. Humans are supposed to have flaws! Why not just stick to the natural way...
Sources:
Time- Designer Babies
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987-2,00.html
Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
