Are Designer Babies Ethical?

A designer baby is the word used to describe the act of genetically modifying the genes of babies. They can also screen embryos for any disorders and could even been uses for modification of characteristics such as gender eye colour and even intelligence. Advanced technologies have allowed doctors to be able to screen embryos for any genetic disorders to enable them to select healthy embryos.

A designer baby is a baby whose genes have been specifically picked over other genes. Designer babies are genetically engineered as an embryo, before the fetus stage, this being done to produce particularly desirable traits. Genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of an organism through the alteration of its genetic code (Catalano). Some parents choose to have a designer baby for their own personal preference, but most do so to lessen the chance of their child having a specific, life-alerting disease. As of the early 2000’s, designer babies were seen as ‘futuristic’, but now, the future is closer than we think.

I think we should have designer babies because what if someone can’t have kids and they want a baby? What do they do adopted or just make a designer baby, just think about it would you want you child to have something wrong with them. So now with designer babies, your baby won’t have anything wrong with it that you don’t want. According to The Ethics of Editing Human Embryos “Imagine if genetic diseases could be removed from the very biological code of our species — a future in which the likes of hemophilia, cystic fibrosis or dozens of other afflictions are simply edited out of human embryos. In April online in the journal Protein and Cell, a team of Chinese scientists reported the first documented experiment to do just that.”

For years the discussion on designer babies has been up surging and is now at the forefront of many medical and academic discussions. An experimental technique, known as gene therapy, birthed the idea of designer babies (“Gene Therapy”. GHF). This very experimental technique, why, uses healthy genes to treat, or rather prevent diseases that could be passed down from parent to child. However, scientists have ventured to further expound on the concept of preventing disease to a more cosmetic and superficial approach. The more imposing science of gene therapy would attempt to take science further into the realm of altering physical characteristics ultimately allow parents to choose their babies eye color, gender, and other physical characteristics that have no bearing on the child 's well being or health. The term now coined as “Designer Babies” is used to describe how by using gene therapy, parents can quite literally design their babies employing genetic screening combined with in vitro fertilization to alter otherwise naturally occurring physical appearances. Whether or not this revolutionary new science should be banned in the United States has become a very controversial topic in the U.S. igniting the strong opinions of scientists and politicians alike. Those in opposition believe that gene therapy is unethical, arguing that science is pressing toward a level that is morally perverse by allowing science to create the next generation instead of

Science is now able to better improve human health and safety thanks to the advanced modern technology and medicine that are available. Yet with today's technology being implemented into science comes the questions of human morality, or bioethics. One of the bioethics debates is on the coined term “Designer babies”; on if or where society should draw the line on genetically altering our children before they are born. With the technology able to stop hereditary diseases, the scientific development’s are able to change the child’s “eye color, hair color, social intelligence, right down to whether or not your child would have a widow’s peak” before the child is born. From the options on choosing whether or not your child will look or act a certain

Are designer babies good or bad? There are many arguments that come up when this topic is mentioned. The ethical dilemma of inheritable genetic modification, which is the changing of genes that are passed on to future generations, is humans shouldn’t play God. The production of designer babies is morally wrong. But then again they could help a family and human being from suffering. An advantage of creating designer babies is that they could remove a disease from a family’s genetics. That was one of the goals of the Human Genome project. Scientists wanted to map out the entire DNA of a human. Similar to what we have now in our government

This caused the concern that designer baby would shrink down the human gene pool. Popular choice like blue eyes, blonde hair will become popular and less popular genes will fade away. Oddly, those genes could be the key to fight disease in the future. Many sociologist also afraid that designer babies would cause “causing a greater gap in society” (Catalano, 2012) between the child has modify genes and one has not. Children with good traits are more likely successful in life, thus, create more gap between the rich and the poor.

A designer baby is a baby genetically engineered/modified through in-vitro fertilisation. Designer babies are created when an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body, in vitro. In this essay, I personallly think that it is wrong to choose the features of the baby. Some people thinks that it is right to choose the feature of the baby because it reduces the baby's chances of getting a serious illness like Down Syndrome, and blood disorders such as anaemia, which means it prevent future diseases. So, parents choose the features of their baby to give their children a healthier life and avoid future diseases.

Lots of people have changed parts of their babies genes.“Some people object to genetic enhancement on religious or philosophical grounds”. Opening the door to one kind of genetic modification, makes people likely more prone to opening it to all kinds of modifications. Permitting human genetic modification for any reason would likely lead to its escape from regulatory limits for enhancement purposes, and to the emergence of a market-based modification that would exacerbate already existing discrimination, inequality, and conflict. Human civilization should not risk these outcomes in the article Designer Babies by Gale, a Cengage Company From Opposing Viewpoints In Context states, “The creation of genetically modified human embryos raises many ethical questions”. CRISPR technology gives scientists the ability to permanently change the genetic makeup of a human being, as well as that person’s future offspring, without their

Designer babies raise huge concerns with ethical morals. People dispute that these babies are unethical, artificial and will create a huge social gap while others argue saying that many heredity caused diseases can be blocked through this

There are sometimes immediate or later consequences as a result of an action. Therefore, with the creation of designer babies, it may lead to major or minor changes. What may happen in the present, may impact the future. An important concern was that “genetic screening and modification could be used as the tools of new eugenics, a popular theory during the early twentieth century that sought to remove from the population traits labeled undesirable” (Lerner, 2012, para. 10). The main purpose of designer babies was to create healthier and improved babies, but it may lead to disparity in health. People who did not undergo this procedure will not be on the same level to those who did; thus, may lead to discrimination of non-designer babies. Therefore,

Genetically modified human babies can diminish the value of life and family bonding.The thinking of cloning can spoil the elements of loving,caring,nurturing a family and accepting every child are different.The thinking of designer baby parents will only end up making efforts for getting cloned children who are intelligent and extraordinary.

CRISPR is a genetic engineering tool that uses a sequence of DNA and its associated protein to edit the base pairs of genes. The word ‘designer’ usually referred to an upscale and fashionable handbag or clothes, but with this technology that alters the genes of children to make super babies that are immune to genetic diseases. The word ‘designer’ now refers to these super children that are believed to have a better chance of succeeding and a longer lifespan with their genes engineered. This might sound good, but every good thing also has its perks. There are unknown problems or even diseases that could come from designer babies. One issue is that this technology goes against most ethics in religions. When designer babies are more present in the future, there would likely be an outrage in religions due to the process of creating designer babies, the modification of embryos, and the idea of playing a god.

According to Opposing Viewpoints(2017), designer babies “refers to children who develop from embryos that are selected or genetically modified in a lab setting, called in vitro.” The reason for this process is to ensure that the parents of the child in question has certain characteristics or traits. Gene therapy is used correct faulty genes in vitro to prevent inherited diseases.

Designer babies is a technology that could soon be all around us. Designer babies uses a gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, it allows you to choose what your future child would be like to the finest details. CRISPR-Cas9 can also be used to make more efficient animals. This may seem like a dream come true, until reality sets in. Editing DNA is very dangerous job because mutations can easily happen. Although the ‘good’ genetic tweaks can't be passed onto future generations, the mutations can. These genetically ‘perfect’ children will also create many social issues. CRISPR-Cas9 can be a benefit to society because it can be used to recreate animals in a economic way; however, the genetic mutations and social issues that would become reality make it an overall harm to society.