- 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
Hey Ana great blog!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Designer babies will create an elite race, one that the majority of us can not afford! But not being able to afford it is not at all why I am against it. I like how you compared designer babies to Barbies and I agree totally. CHoosing what genes go into your baby is just like calling the shots on your own child assembly line. and with theses procedures costing thousands of dollars it would be just like buying a baby!
You also made a really good point about how the embryos are just discarded if they don't have the right genes. I hadn't even thought of that before! It's like the test- tube version of and abortion. Get rid of it if you don't want it!....and that just opens up a whole new world of controversy!
Overall Ana, great blog. I am totally on your side of the argument. We should love what God gives us and by choosing your kid like that you'd just become a materialistic parent. Investing that much money into your kid just shows your child how important their looks are to you. I would hate to see the day when a parent loves their kid for how they look an not who they are!
Ana Abad, I honestly love reading your blogs. They're so interesting, especially for the beginning part we're you're talking about the features of your perfect guy.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I was amazed when you compared the designer babies as if we were making our personal barbies. It's kind of like Build-a-bear, where you get the pick everything you want your bear to have. But instead, we're talking about babies here which is a totally completely different story. In my opinion, why would anyone ever want to pick the genders, physical appearances and even IQ for their children ...wouldn't you want them to be unique instead of robots?
I totally agree with Angie and her comment. You did a really great job on your blog, like the arguments brought up really got at me, and made me think of what I would do when i have children. It obviously came to my conclusion that I would never consider this for cosmetic reasons.
Hi Ana!
ReplyDeleteYour blog was really interesting.
I like how you made the topic of designer babies especially easy to understand by comparing it to things everyone knows about/can relate to - such as boys and barbies, haha.
I agree with what you said about how a normal person would feel if they were to interact with a perfect person.. It would definitely make the normal person feel self conscious and unhappy with themself, which is no way they should feel, since there isn't even anything wrong with them!
I think adding 'designer' people to society would just create unnecessary divisions between people.
Anyways, keep up the good work with your blog, bye :)
First of all, let me just say that I thoroughly enjoy this post, Ana! :) It was easy to relate with and you brought up some nice points to support your view. "Can designer babies be looked at as humans?"- this is one point I haven't thought about. You also included the possible dangers in the actual procedure which was interesting.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more of your cool posts!
Heeey ANA.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I really like your bioblog. The examples that you used are very good because it shows that anyone can relate to this topic. My favourtie example was the "perfect guy" part, this example was very clever. The pictures you used are very useful. We have the same picture, just saying. The title of this was a good approach as well. You really know how to use real-life examples, especially with this topic.
Ana!
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog, i really enjoyed the read. Great use of pictures! When reading your blog, i Agree with individuality and how if there is nothing wrong why change? I believe that individuals would take this advantage of power way too far, and extreme measures leading to the misuse of this power and authority over the natural reproduction of humans, it could be used for positive reasons, but who knows.
Great Job anaabad!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnaaaa <3
ReplyDeleteI just loove your posts! They exquisitely draw my attention and the content you presented in this post just keeps me coming back to visit everytime. I liked that example at the beginning when you listed down all the requirements your friend looked for in a guy (ps. who is it? haha kidding ;p) Anyways you brought up a good point when you said "Can designer babies be looked at as humans?" It really made me think. It made me think yes, they could be because they're still alive and breathing. At the same time I would also say they'd be hard to look at as human. Our definition of human is someone who isn't perfect, yet these test tube babies weren't conceived naturally but were extracted so that they could be altered to be "perfect". Being a person without having any flaws doesn't seem human like, in my perspective at least.
Hey Ana,
ReplyDeleteInteresting we have a similar introduction. I like your blog, it's simple yet very informative and opinionated. It's true, we cannot find someone who has perfect attributes. If we continue to strive to find some with those it would be impossible. Let's be realistic, even babies who are genetically changed aren't really perfect because they were changed. I agree with the "elite race" it will only cause further discrimination and division with the world's society.
Good job Ana, keep up the good blogs.
-Francis T.