Monday, February 8, 2010

Designer Babies - Moral or Immoral?

So the question stands: Are things getting out of hand with research into genetic processes?

I'd like to go first on what designer babies are defined as. It refers to a baby's genes to be altered to any traits of the individual's liking. In many ways, I find the evolution of genetics - going in the wrong direction. First, to explain the method on how to put forth such an experiment - you have to destroy an embryo to make this happen, in some ways this is put into the same field as abortion, as it follows the same concept.

Now I'd like to go from a catholic perspective, based solely on the said information, I would say that they are playing God. We were taught that, with power comes great responsibility, which should not be put upon any humans, as none of us are ready for that. The reason why intimacy, and reproduction is in our world, is because the traits from both parents are what should be looked forward to, no matter what we receive or attain, we should be proud and consider it a blessing that a newborn child was born.

Now coming from a scientific perspective, is it right to genetically modify our child in cost of a life? To me, it wouldn't be worth it, but some questions to ask ourselves are not everyone is going to want perfect children, they might want to have a child that has a specific disorder - what would happen then? Would it still be considered safe and what was it tested on? Another thing to think about is what if you have a disorder or imperfection you don't want your child to attain - would you simply resort to the method of "Designer Babies" just because of that?

A good example of an imperfection of this method is Charlie from this source. (http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm) - Charlie suffers from a rare blood disorder, Diamond Blackfan Anaemia, which only affects about 700 people in the whole world. The disorder occurs when a person’s bone marrow fails to produce enough red blood cells, which needed to carry oxygen to the rest of the body. It is treatable, but Charlie’s quality and length of life are both in jeopardy. Fortunately, Charlie’s condition is curable with a stem cell transfusion from an identical tissue match. And this is where Jamie comes in. After a genetic preimplantation diagnosis, the Jamie we know, was selected at the embryonic stage so, once born, he could give Charlie the stem cells he needs.

There are many things that should be put into consideration about genetically modifying a newborn baby. I find it immoral and should be ceased effectively.

References (Websites) :

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/

http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm

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