Designer Babies Research Paper
Imagine sitting down at a table and being handed a menu, but this is no ordinary menu to order food off of. No, this menu is at a medical clinic and it’s the menu to your new customized “designer baby”. Technology has advanced so much in the past couple years that this situation could happen very soon. If not in your lifetime, then in that of your children’s. What is a “designer baby”? It’s exactly as the words imply; a baby genetically modified to what the parents call “the perfect baby”. Today, the sex of the baby, the hair color, and the eye color can all be modified to the choice of the parent. And soon other things will be possible, such as modifying genetic defects in a baby. All of this would probably sound very appealing to someone
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In 2009 an article titled Designing Rules for Designer Babies was published in the Scientific American magazine. The article says:
In the U.S., no binding rules deter a private clinic from offering a menu of traits or from implanting a woman with a collection of embryos. Physicians who may receive more than $10,000 for a procedure serve as the sole arbiters of a series of thorny ethical, safety and social welfare questions (29).
With no binding laws or rules to this, some doctors will do the procedures just to get the money. It would definitely bring up questions about the doctors morals and if he/she really cares about their patients. Take, for example, Nadya Suleman, whom was implanted with genetically altered embryos. The doctor implanted her with a collection of six embryos. Two of those embryos split, making her pregnant with eight children. It does make everyone question her, but also the doctor. Did he take into account that she already had six children? Did he consider her financial status? (Designing Rules 29) Another question to ask is; how far do we go in “designing” our babies? The same article from Scientific American gives a perfect example of a situation that could
In 2009 an article titled Designing Rules for Designer Babies was published in the Scientific American magazine. The article says:
In the U.S., no binding rules deter a private clinic from offering a menu of traits or from implanting a woman with a collection of embryos. Physicians who may receive more than $10,000 for a procedure serve as the sole arbiters of a series of thorny ethical, safety and social welfare questions (29).
With no binding laws or rules to this, some doctors will do the procedures just to get the money. It would definitely bring up questions about the doctors morals and if he/she really cares about their patients. Take, for example, Nadya Suleman, whom was implanted with genetically altered embryos. The doctor implanted her with a collection of six embryos. Two of those embryos split, making her pregnant with eight children. It does make everyone question her, but also the doctor. Did he take into account that she already had six children? Did he consider her financial status? (Designing Rules 29) Another question to ask is; how far do we go in “designing” our babies? The same article from Scientific American gives a perfect example of a situation that could