Designer Babies
A couple just got married a few weeks ago, and they are looking for the perfect car. They go down to the dealership in hopes of finding their dream car. The couple gets there and continues to look around, when they find a Buick Enclave. It is brand new and looks nice, but it does not have everything they are looking for. A salesman comes over to ask if they need some assistance, and they tell the salesman they like the car but it just does not have all the things they are looking for. The salesman tells them it is not a problem; they can just special order the car if they wanted. The salesman brings them inside and hands them a list of options they are able to choose from. Color? Blue. Seats? Leather. DVD player? Heck yes! Seat warmers? Yes please. Chrome wheels? Of course. The salesman then sends the lists of options to the Buick Company so the couple’s car can be custom built.
The couple is happy with the car they got to design themselves, but now it is time for them to have a child. The couple wants their child to be a girl, somewhat tall, with blonde hair, big blue eyes, and olive skin tone. They go to the doctors and the doctor tells them that it is possible for them to have their “dream child”. The couple is ecstatic and tells the doctor what they want. Nine months later they have themselves their perfect child. Scientists have already modified animals and crops, so why not babies? There are arguably positive and negative results of engineering an unborn baby. A positive use of this procedure would be by eliminating a hereditary disease, such as cancer. On the negative side, scientists have said they may be able to create a “super human”. When people use this procedure to cosmetically alter their unborn child’s features, like eye or hair color, the child is known as a “designer baby”. Some people may think this is unethical, and to a certain point it is. It can be considered ethical when it is used to save lives. Both sides, for and against engineering a child, have pros and cons; but it just seems like it is not ethical or moral to create a child that God has made perfect already. With designing a baby, there are only certain traits that are able to be changed. The alterations that parents are able to decide from are the gender, appearance, intelligence, diseases and personality. There is a process that involves screening the embryos that is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. With In-Vitro Fertilization, embryos are created and grown to the eighth cell stage. At this point, a couple of cells are removed for scientists to examine. The scientists examine the DNA of the cells to make sure there are no defects. The normal embryos are then placed in the womb to continue growing. It is estimated 30 children worldwide have been born of this method, 17 in the U.S., where the FDA subsequently banned the technique (Scutti). First, when using this technique to cosmetically alter a child, it damages the gene pool. From generation to generation, the gene pool is passed down, and this is why people look a certain way. With the cosmetic change, future generations will no longer look like their ancestors. There is nothing positive, health wise, with creating a “designer baby”. The only reason for altering a child’s features is for the parents sakes. The next down side to engineering a child is, it is expensive. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, one of the biggest scientific advancements, costs $3,000 to $5,000 (Haupt). That is on top of the $10,000 to $15,000 price for in vitro fertilization (Haupt). If the parents want more than one thing changed, say the eye and hair color and also to be five feet and eight inches tall, the cost of “designing” the child just increases. Many people will argue that genetically engineering a child is unethical or unnatural, to be able to create a person’s “dream child”. Also, many people say that it is morally wrong because the parents are not accepting the child the way he or she is. Another issue people may have, is they will be disappointed. If a couple designs their child to be athletic and the child does not make the Tee ball team, for example, the parents may be mad because they paid for a trait that “did not work”. Changing the way a child looks, or changing how smart they are, is like telling God that his child is not good enough. God makes no mistakes, so why change what he has made? It is understandable that engineering a child could save them from a disease, but there is a reason, that humans may not know, that the child was born with it. The unborn child also has no say in what they look like. The parents made the choice to change their child, whether cosmetically or for health reasons. If the child ever found out about the changes made, mainly dealing with the looks or features, the child may be very upset. They may even be upset enough to sue their parents because the child never got to give an input about the operation. Ethnicity might also be a problem. On every continent there are different types of people that all look vastly different. The shape of the eyes, structure, height, skin color, body shape, hair color and so on, are all different features of people that distinguish them from others. When a parent is choosing how their child will look, they may, brown hair, mid height, small and green eyes and dark skin. Therefore people would look much alike and based on ethnicity, the difference in their appearance would be ruined. People of different races do not look the same, and it is for a reason. The operation is also not one hundred percent safe. The child has a chance of being born with some defects With all of this being said, there are also advantages to engineering a child. One advantage is, the risk of getting a hereditary disease is greatly lowered. Around 7.9 million children each year are born with a serious birth defect that has a significant genetic contribution (Gyngell). Also, thirty percent of all deaths worldwide are due to chronic diseases (such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) in those under seventy years of age (Gyngell). With scientists able to go in and change the genes, they can prevent many children from having these chronic diseases. This might even reduce the death rate, because cancer and heart disease would no longer be threatening millions of lives. When altering the baby’s genes, the life span can increase for up to thirty years. The average life span of a male is 76.3 years and for the female 81.3. Now imagine living for up to thirty more years, the males would be approximately 106 years old and the females would be about 111 years old. The genetic engineering of a child should only be used for positive reasons, such as eliminating a deadly disease that could prevent a child from developing correctly or enabling the child to have a said to be normal life. Although it has its advantages it has its disadvantages as well. The way it can damage a gene pool, it is expensive so only the rich can afford it, and God made us perfect to start off, are all cons to the procedure. Using the operation to help children by halting diseases is one way to use it morally and ethically. The operation should be used for only this and nothing to do with cosmetically changing the child. Two compelling reasons to genetically alter human reproductive cells in preparation for childbirth, Krimsky argued, are for curing or preventing a disease or for the “enhancement” of a child (Krimsky). There should be certain laws that prohibit people from using this operation in a non-life saving situation.