Eugenics: Designer Babies
Eugenics: Designer Babies
Okpurukre Isoken (Medical Ethics)
Professor Ballantyne
August 5th, 2009
Eugenics: Designer Babies
Eugenics, in its broadest sense, is defined as "the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or of a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits”. The term captures a smorgasbord of vivacious imagery etched into the annals of human history - of ghostly memories about human atrocities anxiously waiting to fade away at the twilight moments of a modern age – of overcrowded prison camps, in which the depths of travail and indolent sighs of countless defenseless victims, of bodies ravaged by scars and which have become too weak to be revitalised in any shape or manner. Or of lives consigned to “medical investigative exploration for the amelioration of human condition” by what at first sight appears to be insignificant signatures of a clerk. Such lives were considered only sacrifices contrived by altruist motives of a beneficent governing authority. Questions if they could have been raised at all in retrospect could only be considered at someones discretionary time, and place of course.
Trying to pick through the rubbles of the world’s past mishaps and distilling their lessons for application to
today’s issues is like wading and battling oneself through an ever- confusing maze mired with potholes, trenches
and cul-de-sacs. Tolstoy, in his masterpiece War and Peace admonished his readers that everything in history has
the mirage of appearing to have been predestined, once history has occured. I believe that as potential medical
experts honest and critical intellectual inquiry is only the beginning and the least of what we can do to prevent
what future generations will ruefully deem as inevitable consequences of our “brilliant concoctions”.
According to
Okpurukre Isoken (Medical Ethics)
Professor Ballantyne
August 5th, 2009
Eugenics: Designer Babies
Eugenics, in its broadest sense, is defined as "the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or of a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits”. The term captures a smorgasbord of vivacious imagery etched into the annals of human history - of ghostly memories about human atrocities anxiously waiting to fade away at the twilight moments of a modern age – of overcrowded prison camps, in which the depths of travail and indolent sighs of countless defenseless victims, of bodies ravaged by scars and which have become too weak to be revitalised in any shape or manner. Or of lives consigned to “medical investigative exploration for the amelioration of human condition” by what at first sight appears to be insignificant signatures of a clerk. Such lives were considered only sacrifices contrived by altruist motives of a beneficent governing authority. Questions if they could have been raised at all in retrospect could only be considered at someones discretionary time, and place of course.
Trying to pick through the rubbles of the world’s past mishaps and distilling their lessons for application to
today’s issues is like wading and battling oneself through an ever- confusing maze mired with potholes, trenches
and cul-de-sacs. Tolstoy, in his masterpiece War and Peace admonished his readers that everything in history has
the mirage of appearing to have been predestined, once history has occured. I believe that as potential medical
experts honest and critical intellectual inquiry is only the beginning and the least of what we can do to prevent
what future generations will ruefully deem as inevitable consequences of our “brilliant concoctions”.
According to
References: Agar N. (n.d). Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations. Retrieved on June 16th, 2009 from http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html Connor S. (2009). Fertility expert: 'I can clone a human being ' Retrieved on August 4, 2009 from http://www.zavos.org/fertility-expert-i-can-clone-a-human-being-1672095.html Lee E (2003). Debating Designer Babies. Retrieved on June 15, 2009 from http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/ocrreliss7.php Macrae F. (2008). Couple to have Britain 's first baby genetically modified to be free of breast cancer gene Malcolm R (2008). Genetically Modified Human Baby? Retrieved on June 14, 2009 from http://healthandsurvival.com/2008/05/12/genetically-modified-human-baby/ Subcommittee on oversight and investigations (2001, March 28). Issues raised by human cloning research. Retrieved from http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/107/action/107-5.pdf Thomas V (2007) Children Have Rights - Say No to Repro Tech from http://childrenhaverights-saynotoreprotech.blogspot.com/2007/02/doron-blake-genius-designer-baby.html Wolpert L (2003). The Scientific Method: 'Emphasizing the ethics of designer babies is a way of avoiding the issue of child abuse '