Designer Babies: The Next Perfection

Designer Babies: The Next Perfection The perfect baby might not have the stereotypical physical traits of blond hair and blue eyes; they have the perfect genes of a healthy person. Designer babies is an euphemism for genetic engineering. As a baby’s genes are genetically altered, the DNA itself in most cases is not altered, but rather parents are merely selecting the genes that will not have a detrimental effect upon their child’s health. The procedure for fertilizing a human ovum, or egg, outside the body was first developed in the 1970s (Taus). And this is termed as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), where mature eggs are first surgically harvested and then exposed to healthy sperm in a petri dish. Monitoring them to undergo cell divisions for
Creating designer babies gives scientists insights into genetics, cell growth, and development. If scientists gain a better understanding of why a certain diseases is passed on from one generation to another, or how defective genes develop during cell growth, then they will be able to utilize this newfound knowledge and discover possible cures for the diseases. Therefore, it has the potential to be a very promising advancement in technology and the medical
The federal government has no direct control on the practice of medicine, leaving such oversight to each state. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the developed world, where the majority of countries have a national regulatory body policing fertility clinics. Indeed, of the 30 industrialized countries—which account for one-fifth of the world's population and have the most fully developed biotechnology sectors—77% have banned embryo screening for nonmedical purposes (Miller). Banning the undesirable applications of the designer babies’ technology will benefit those who wish to eradicate genetic diseases in their family lineage with a sense of reassured confidence by following those safety guidelines. As the process prevents genetic diseases and reduces risk of inherited medical conditions after several genes are screened and only those that doesn’t bear the disease will be implanted, medical conditions or genetic diseases that he or she might have inherited are removed, ensuring a healthy development. A designer baby can grow into a healthy individual and is likely to live a long life. For example, the first British baby girl was born free of breast cancer as she will grow up without the defective BRCA1 gene that her father's sister, mother, aunt and grandmother all suffered from the disease and