Sarah Page
November 1st, 2015
Designer Babies
What would you do if you had the opportunity
to change the genetic code of your child in the womb so they came out exactly
how you wanted? You could have blue
eyes, brown hair, and amazing intelligence. You would have yourself the perfect
child, or a designer baby. Designer babies are children who has a changed
genetic makeup, so that a specific gene is present or to avoid a defect that is
passed down through the family. Some doubt that designer babies are a good
thing for our society, but being able to change the genetic makeup of a child
can help it and help advance our sciences. These children will soon be
available to many, and what scientists can do for a family is amazing. Designer
babies are a good thing for our society.
First off, designer babies can keep
children from having birth defects. Sometimes illness is passed down through genes,
and being able to save a child from the pain of having a birth defect can be
very important later in life. Living with asthma from birth I can personally
say that my life could be a lot easier without it. People can agree that if this was a simple and
easy procedure anyone would do it. Parents now are already trying to help their
children in the womb by taking vitamins and only eating certain foods. Doctors
even suggest pregnant women take certain vitamins and avoid certain foods. In
an article by Paul Walman, an author and writer for The American Prospect, he
stated, "What
if a hundred years from now the technology had become safe, cheap, and easy, so
a pregnant woman could pop a pill that costs a dollar and would boost her
baby's IQ by 20 points—would you think it was wrong then? Keep in mind that
parents already do a million things intended to help their developing children
become healthier and smarter, some of which begin before the baby leaves the
womb”(Walman, Paul). This makes sense because if anyone could help their
child be smarter or more athletic they would. In every family they try to pass
down certain things like a love for sports or an interest in reading. Everyone
wants what is best for their child. When a child was born with an illness,
parents tend to do everything they can to treat it after birth. If it is
possible to treat the same illness before the child is born, why would anyone
let their child suffer? Children deserve the best life they can have, and as a
parent it would seem selfish to have that opportunity and not do what is better
for the child. Another opportunity is for parents who already have one sick
child, and can alter their second child to help the first born. It is possible
to have a healthier child that can provide blood or healthy bone marrow to help
their sibling. These second children would have a close bond to their older
sibling, helping the family just by living.
As it stands, many people are against
designer babies. A first misconception is that it is thought that this new technology
is only for the rich. It can be very expensive and the unreasonable cost cannot
be afforded by many. In everyday life it seems the rich have more opportunities
than others. Even now the rich can afford to pay for a better nose, or a better
body. Now they can pay for a better baby. Why would society support even more separation
between the rich and poor? Another downfall would seem to be the child feeling
left out of the choice to have the procedure done. Children might feel that
they were only born to help the other child not because their parents wanted
another baby. It is possible as well that if the parents can choose the
sex of the baby it will become an issue, because our society already
discriminative towards sex (Ghoose, Tia). It could change the relationship between child
and parent in another way. If the parent expects a certain trait in the child,
and they do not excel in that area the parents could become disappointed with
their offspring. This would leave the child feeling unwanted in the family, and
that could cause problems as an adult as well.
Even if there is some potential harm, the procedure is only going
to benefit society. As the process goes on, these new designer babies will become
available to everyone. To address the cost, even if it is a little expensive at
first, as other technology has gone to show, the availability changes over
time. In modern day practically everyone has a cell phone, or other
technology like a fridge. Things like cups and bowls were once new technology
as well. These things were harder to have when they first came around. Only the
“rich” could afford them at first but now, everyone has an opportunity to have
them. If society did not have an issue with these technologies coming into
homes this way then it should not be against the designer babies. As previously
mentioned the rich can already alter their bodies, and what society does not
realize is, “Right now we manage to distinguish between necessary medical
procedures, which insurance will pay for, and elective ones, which are
apportioned on the basis of wealth. Which means that rich people can have more
symmetrical noses and perkier breasts and creepily unlined faces than ordinary
people do, and that doesn't bother us enough to outlaw plastic surgery. You
could envision a time when anyone can get their eggs adapted to remove a slate
of harmful conditions and diseases, but only the rich can get the platinum
service, which will also give your child shiny, manageable hair”(Walman, Paul).
Next, the choice to have a child is up to the parents, and someone who wants
another child would not bring a child into the world for only use to help their
first child. Even if a baby is planned, it is because they want to care and
love for another child while it can help their sibling as well. In our
society, parents already try to have more kids whether or not their first born
was sick. The fact is, an opportunity is presented if the parents decide to
bring another life into the world to have that child help their sibling. If the
child does feel abandoned then the parents can make an effort to change how
they feel, providing them with love and care. Lastly, some scientists do not
let parents change the sex of the child, only alter if they have a defect or
not (Ghoose, Tia). This would keep them from being discriminative towards one
sex or another. Keeping certain things in check like what sex is chosen can be
very helpful in the process of helping the child.
I firmly believe this procedure is a good idea for our society to
have. The technology is going to advance whether or not society likes it. In an interview with NPR.org Mark Sauer, a member of a scientist
team working at Columbia University, comments on the effort the scientists are
putting in to help mothers deliver healthy children. He is only trying
to help women cure diseases in their children and help them to have happy successful
childhoods. He makes it clear that the procedure replaces the mitochondria with
a healthy new one. Between 1 in 2,000 and 1
in 4,000 babies born each year with syndromes are caused by a weak
mitochondria. The syndromes can range
from simple illness to life threatening. Sometimes there is no treatment, and
the child dies early in life (Steien, Rob).
The society also
benefits from this because it can cause a smarter generation. Not only is the
following generations healthy as well, but they can come up with new
technology. Another point to make is that no matter how much someone alters
their child, the child is its own person. Someone can give a child a great
skill level in athletics, great genes to make them beautiful or an amazing IQ,
and that child would still choose to make their own decisions. They could
become a baseball player or an accountant, but that is up to the child. The
free will is not taken away just because the parents changed the genetic
makeup. In the article, “Children to Order: The Ethics of Designer Babies”, the
author Tia Ghose writes about the new technology behind designer babies, and
believes, “When bringing a new child into the world, society has an obligation
to determine whether the technologies used to do so actually benefit or harm
the infant.” On the Live Science webpage that features her article, Ghose
writes “Creating designer babies who are free from diseases and super
athletic or smart may finally be around the corner.” The procedure brings about
the opportunity to have a smarter generation and a healthier one from birth. Parents
will finally be able to look forward to a society where their child does not
have to go through the same illness as their family. That is all anyone can
hope for, a healthy happy child brought into the world. The only different is now
our scientists can help make that happen.
Citations
Walman, Paul. “In
Praise of Designer Babies”. The American Prospect Magazine Prospect
Publications n.d. Web. 10 Oct.
2013.
Steien, Rob. “Proposed
Treatment to Fix Genetic Diseases Raises Ethical Issues” Heath News
from NPR. NPR Publications n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.
Ghose, Tia. “Children to
Order: The Ethics of Designer Babies”. Live Science. Live
Science Publications n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
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