Designer Babies
By Jessica Judge and Nicolette Senatore
What is it?
Designer babies are babies who's genes are selected to prevent a certain disorder or to make sure that they have a certain gene.To do this we have to fertilize the eggs and sperms where they are in a test tube in a laboratory. Some people do this in order to choose the gender of the child, to choose what features they have and to help protect them against illness.
Current Usage
Babies genes are being selected because parents are trying to prevent their children from having certain genes that will cause genetic disorders. Also, some parents try to make sure that their children have a certain gene so they will have a certain trait.
Benifits and Disadvantages
With the process of Designer Babies comes numerous technicalities and positive outcomes. Some benefits are human life span can increase up to 30 years because this process prevents genetic diseases, such as down syndrome and alzheimers. This process also helps genealogists and biologists gain grasp on genetics. However, not all good things come from this technique. If the process goes wrong than the embryo can accidentally be terminated. Another issue is the technology that is used is not 100% safe and is still being worked on.
Physical, Economical, Environmental and Social Affect
Due to the fact that this is an unnatural process everything works out in a different way. A baby's gender, appearance, intelligence, risk of having diseases and personality can all be changed. Not only is the baby alone affect but those around it are as well. This entire process can cost up to $100,000. This process also threatens to cause an economical gap between people who can't and can afford it. The effect on the environment and the social effect is that some people don't agree with this method and think that it's unethical. They believe that the parents don't own the child and therefore they don't have the right to choose what the child looks like or what traits it does and doesn't have.
How will our future be affected
Designer babies will affect our future in a positive way. It will help to lower the amount of people who have and carry genetic diseases. But, some people still don't agree that this is an ethical process, so this idea may cause many fights and arguments between biologists and citizens. Overall though, this process will help us in the future to learn more about genetics and genetic diseases.
Should We Make Designer Babies?