As humans continue to live on the planet they continue to generate more and more ideas, these ideas sooner or later prove to be the truth. Since the dawn of man we have learned to easily harness the power of electricity as well as how to easily look inside of human bodies. We have almost reached a point where we are able to even create our own idea of a perfect person. A person who's physical traits are determined well before they are even born. Although it is very possible to use these methods to remove diseases from unborn children, the human species is very vain and research pertaining to these children's appearance is just as explored as the research removing disease. Through recent scientific endeavors we may look more into this kind of genetic science. Similar to many other scientific endeavors this arises the question...is this ethical? Is it playing God to remove diseases from unborn children? Is it right to decide what color the child's eyes are or how large their nose will be before they are born? Is it morally right to decide the child's sex before they are born? People have already had these kinds of children predetermined and the future likely holds many more.
A designer baby is the term for any child born who's embryo was manipulated in some manner which changes anything about the child's genetic make up. In order to develop a designer baby InVitro Fertilization(IVF) is performed. IVF is when scientists have a sperm fertilize an egg inside a test tube. Before the sperm and egg undergo IVF another process must first occur. This process is called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis(PGD). This new process is where scientists either select sperms with certain traits or implant said sperm with the genetic information that the parents want the child to have. After implanting the correct information the newly created zygote is screened for genetic disease. Upon completion of this step any embryo created that proves to most closely match in genetic material as well as to not have any diseases is implanted into the future mother's womb.
Some parents eagerly await the birth of their children hoping for a certain gender of child. Scientists nowadays can decide which gender the child will be. By screening the sperm of the father, they can choose to only fertilize the egg with male or female sperm depending on whether a male or female is desired. This has already been tested and has provided the world with a girl named Jessica (news article at bottom). Even though this process is safe I believe that the decision should not be put in the hands of the parents. I believe every child should have an equal chance to fulfill their dreams, thus I believe it is right for parents to remove life-threatening or hindering diseases before they are born. It is very possible that the only way to improve ourselves even further is to use science and do it directly. In the future maybe every child will have the same leg up, making the whole society greater by comparison to what we are now. Although if it were God's will for us to become greater in this manner would he have given mammals everywhere the ability to naturally adapt? But maybe we have grown to a point where our intelligence IS our ability to adapt.
In my opinion it is a magnificent thing for humans to be able to save lives before they have even begun and I think this type of research should be further explored so that we may become even better as a race.
I also read and commented on:
Alex Cabaj's Bio Blog
Amanda Kennedy's Bio Blog
References:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont2.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont3.htm
