Designer Babies
Hi guys! Today, we will be presenting on the topic of Designer Babies – babies that are created by genetic screening or engineering combined with in vitro fertilization, in order to ensure the absence or presence of a particular gene or characteristic. What are designer babies? You may ask. Is it similar to a comparism between normal bags you buy from BHG and designer LV bags? No! It is more like a Hermes bag, where we are able to design and customize our very own babies! We can select eye colour, hair colour, the gender of the baby and any other physical features. In the future, we may even be able to choose the physical and mental abilities of our very own kids! Now, we will show a video regarding the technology behind Designer Babies and the controversial issue behind this technology.
In addition to this video, we also found several articles online. In 1999, there was an article by TIMES magazine that touched on the topic of Designer Babie. Instead of using the technology to choose the sex of the embryo, the case study showed the Collinses family using the technology to select a healthy embryo. Hence, this shows that genetic engineering reduce the baby’s chances of being born with diseases.
10 years after the TIMES magazine article was published, a CBS news article was published, with the stunning headline - A Genetically Screened Baby Saved the Life of His Sister. This article clearly showed that the baby, Adam Nash, was created to possess the right cells to save his dying sister’s life. She required an exact match for a bone marrow transplant, to cure a rare genetic disorder, and the solution doctors had in mind, was to create a baby, designed to have similar genes to his sister. The bone marrow transplant was done after Adam Nash was born, and now, both he and his sister are alive and healthy.
However, nothing can be perfect. Genetic engineering, as seen in the article provided by Wall Street Journal, does have its cons. By choosing characteristics
In addition to this video, we also found several articles online. In 1999, there was an article by TIMES magazine that touched on the topic of Designer Babie. Instead of using the technology to choose the sex of the embryo, the case study showed the Collinses family using the technology to select a healthy embryo. Hence, this shows that genetic engineering reduce the baby’s chances of being born with diseases.
10 years after the TIMES magazine article was published, a CBS news article was published, with the stunning headline - A Genetically Screened Baby Saved the Life of His Sister. This article clearly showed that the baby, Adam Nash, was created to possess the right cells to save his dying sister’s life. She required an exact match for a bone marrow transplant, to cure a rare genetic disorder, and the solution doctors had in mind, was to create a baby, designed to have similar genes to his sister. The bone marrow transplant was done after Adam Nash was born, and now, both he and his sister are alive and healthy.
However, nothing can be perfect. Genetic engineering, as seen in the article provided by Wall Street Journal, does have its cons. By choosing characteristics