- He can sing well.
- He can dance well.
- He can play the guitar.
- He's taller then than her.
- He's not too light, but not too dark.
- He's Smart.
- He's good looking.
- He's a really nice and the kind of guy who will get along with my family.
and the list goes on.
... Let's get realistic, can such a guy that falls under all the requirements in her list, really exist? I don't really think so. But, wouldn't it be nice to find someone that would fit all our expectations? Well, my friends... It is possible, but right now they come in the form of babies!
Designer Babies can be defined as - A baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.
So, basically when choosing to have a designer baby you have the choice to choose exactly how your baby will turn out - intelligent, musician, athletic, immune to sickness, gorgeous, etc.
This method of creating babies is becoming a hot topic as it brings pros and cons. I think that our research into genetic processes is actually quite brilliant, but designer babies is not something I would choose to do in my future. Many social and ethical implications have been known with rise of designer babies. This method of choosing genes, create expensive procedures - which obviously, only the rich can afford. This would separate the rich from the poor even more, as an "elite race" becomes developed with all the enhanced babies. In the future would normal people be highly discriminated against as opposed to the people above normal? Which create a sort of social clash. Wouldn't you be self-conscious / constantly worrying about interacting with a person of perfection? I know I would, I hate being looked down upon, and in this case I'd be looked upon as "normal" which used to be the best thing a person could be.
The process of designer babies also require testing on animals, which is never a good thing. It also brings up the question; can designer babies be looked at as humans?
" Opponents of the liberal argument for enhancement argue that there are morally significant differences between upbringing and genetic enhancement. Francis Fukuyama thinks that genetic enhancements may change our descendents to such an extent that they lose their humanity. " [actionbioscience]
What do you think? Personally, I think designer babies are more like dolls.. like barbies. Being able to choose skin color, hair color, eye color... personality? It's like creating a new doll for Barbie, isn't it? It's always the better then normal characteristics getting chosen, and the normal inherited ones little girls who own these barbies have, that get left behind.
Creating babies artificially using the IVF procedure also has its risks. What does one do with the left over embryos? Most of the time it is thrown away or kept frozen and never used. That's hundreds of children left unborn. Hundreds of people who could of made a difference in our world. Hundreds of people, gone. Who knew?
So, although creating designer babies has shown how much our technology has developed over the years - from being able to choose only the gender, to now being able to choose the appearance, personality and even IQ of a child - I think it's getting a tad bit out of hand. I mean, aren't we supposed to appreciate and love any child that God has chosen to bless us with? :)
Sources
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=127
http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2002/2/27/16340/1842
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
