Designer Babies Informative Essay
ENG2010- Informative Essay
Topic: Designer Babies
Name: So Ka Wing, Sheryl (s136882)
Imagine that you were couples, would you want to design your baby in a healthy and custom-made way? These days, Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) has been used since 1990s. In fact, everyone wants their children be healthy and perfect. The advanced genetic modification technology helps them a lot. The following will discuss what designer babies are, the processes, and the effects of PGD.
First of all, the technology is useful for screening and selecting what genes that couples want. This technology was used in screening disease as well as creating savior siblings, or genetic matches for a sick sibling in need of a transplant. PGD was not only used to screen for disease like cancer, mental retardation and blindness, but currently also to choose traits like gender, hair and skin color, intelligent level, and even personality. (Molly, n.d.). Spending money on the technology, their babies can be modified and born in their desired ways. …show more content…
Making a designer baby, there are many steps and processes.
Firstly, creating an embryo with in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Secondly, removing a single cell from that embryo within the first five days of creation. Thirdly, testing the cell genetically. Finally, deciding whether to discard the embryo or implant it in the mother’s womb. (Weebly, 2000) The process is safe, however, only the U.S. allows PGD. In a survey, 75% of respondents support using PGD to select against mental retardation in an embryo, while only 10% though the process was acceptable to test for potential athletic ability. (New York University School of Medicine, 2002). That’s why, the technology is outlawed in many places like the United Kingdom, India, and China. (Molly, 2005) Moreover, whether these designer babies are healthy are unpredictable since the technology have developed in recent 10 more
years.
In theory, PGD helps couples creating a desired baby with different perfect traits, but in practice, it will lose species diversification. That means everyone is the same since our perfect and desired standards are almost the same. For example, “I want a daughter with blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.” Imagine that you were in a street, and you would see those people facing you are the same. “If we’re going to produce children who are claimed to be superior because of their particular genes, we risk introducing new sources of discrimination.” Says Marcy Darnorsky. (Marcy, 2009). For instance, if people used the method to select babies who are more likely to be tall, the people will biases against short people. And it causes social problems.
To sum up, although the cutting edge technology is effective for couples who want modify their babies, there are also many drawbacks of the concepts. Moreover, the techniques are not fully acceptable among the world, only the U.S. government.
(459 words)
References: Molly, E. (n.d.) Howstuffwork: How will we have baby in the future? Retrieved from http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/fertility/future-children1.htm
Marcy, D. (2009) The Wall Street Journal: Laboratory Techniques That Screen for Disease in Embryo Are Now Being Offered to Create Designer Children. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123439771603075099?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123439771603075099.html
New York University School of Medicine (2002), Report on Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).
Weebly (2000). Designer babies: How are designer babies made? Retrieved from http://designerbabies-information.weebly.com/how-do-designer-babies-work.html
Topic: Designer Babies
Name: So Ka Wing, Sheryl (s136882)
Imagine that you were couples, would you want to design your baby in a healthy and custom-made way? These days, Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) has been used since 1990s. In fact, everyone wants their children be healthy and perfect. The advanced genetic modification technology helps them a lot. The following will discuss what designer babies are, the processes, and the effects of PGD.
First of all, the technology is useful for screening and selecting what genes that couples want. This technology was used in screening disease as well as creating savior siblings, or genetic matches for a sick sibling in need of a transplant. PGD was not only used to screen for disease like cancer, mental retardation and blindness, but currently also to choose traits like gender, hair and skin color, intelligent level, and even personality. (Molly, n.d.). Spending money on the technology, their babies can be modified and born in their desired ways. …show more content…
Making a designer baby, there are many steps and processes.
Firstly, creating an embryo with in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Secondly, removing a single cell from that embryo within the first five days of creation. Thirdly, testing the cell genetically. Finally, deciding whether to discard the embryo or implant it in the mother’s womb. (Weebly, 2000) The process is safe, however, only the U.S. allows PGD. In a survey, 75% of respondents support using PGD to select against mental retardation in an embryo, while only 10% though the process was acceptable to test for potential athletic ability. (New York University School of Medicine, 2002). That’s why, the technology is outlawed in many places like the United Kingdom, India, and China. (Molly, 2005) Moreover, whether these designer babies are healthy are unpredictable since the technology have developed in recent 10 more
years.
In theory, PGD helps couples creating a desired baby with different perfect traits, but in practice, it will lose species diversification. That means everyone is the same since our perfect and desired standards are almost the same. For example, “I want a daughter with blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.” Imagine that you were in a street, and you would see those people facing you are the same. “If we’re going to produce children who are claimed to be superior because of their particular genes, we risk introducing new sources of discrimination.” Says Marcy Darnorsky. (Marcy, 2009). For instance, if people used the method to select babies who are more likely to be tall, the people will biases against short people. And it causes social problems.
To sum up, although the cutting edge technology is effective for couples who want modify their babies, there are also many drawbacks of the concepts. Moreover, the techniques are not fully acceptable among the world, only the U.S. government.
(459 words)
References: Molly, E. (n.d.) Howstuffwork: How will we have baby in the future? Retrieved from http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/fertility/future-children1.htm
Marcy, D. (2009) The Wall Street Journal: Laboratory Techniques That Screen for Disease in Embryo Are Now Being Offered to Create Designer Children. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123439771603075099?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB123439771603075099.html
New York University School of Medicine (2002), Report on Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).
Weebly (2000). Designer babies: How are designer babies made? Retrieved from http://designerbabies-information.weebly.com/how-do-designer-babies-work.html