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Barber, Burrell, Hendron, Ramirez 1

Kyle Barber, Jessica Burrell, Bronte Hendron, Willie Ramirez

Cris Longhurst

English 2010

November 8, 2017

Proposed Solution

What would you think if you were told that there may no longer be a need for a couple to

go to the doctor to get an ultrasound, or to guess the gender of a child before it is born? Or even

wonder what physical traits the child will have? Instead, the parents themselves, can choose to

alter any of these characteristics while the baby is in the

embryo stage of its life? Soon, parents may be able to

do just that. Some might choose to prioritize the

appearance of their child; others intelligence; others

athleticism, humor, or disposition. Advancements in

genetic technology have already enabled doctors to

determine the sex, hair color, eye color, and height of a

child before they are born. Today, new technologies allow direct modification of singular

embryos, meaning parents can alter the genes of an embryo to reflect certain desired qualities

(Ossareh 729). We are not crazy - this is very real and becoming a big deal. The term for this is

called Designer Babies or Gene Modification where parents can literally design their baby as

if it were a make-your-own doll. Though with designer babies, since it is such a unique and

complicated subject to touch on, it is very hard to take a side on saying whether it is okay or not.

I bet youre thinking the same way we did in the beginning of our research on this topic,

that it sounds bizarre and crazy and we should just leave those kinds of things alone right? It just
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doesnt seem morally and ethically correct. Well, what if we also told you that today's

technology is improving in so many ways that it can even reach the point of identifying if an

embryo has a disease or disorder and fix it so that your baby who would have been born with a

certain type of hereditary syndrome, defect, or disease can be born as healthy as possible? Many

see positive aspects to this topic like the ones we just mentioned. However, some say it as if we

are trying to play God, or potentially even cause a distinction in human appearance by creating

social classes. Some argue it could even bring a rebirth to what many extremists like Adolf Hitler

or Francis Galton wanted to accomplish - creating a superior race. We know that technology is

only going to improve and many discoveries are going to be made, so what we have done is

simply come up with a main policy or guideline for all of those who see an interest in

designer babies to ensure the best solution and prevention of further problems.

Like what was said in the intro, germline modification is very diverse and can be used in

many different ways. For example, in the UK there are experiments and studies going on to help

women with mitochondrial disorders to have children and not pass such disorders onto later

generations. The technique is proposed as a way for women affected by a particular subset of

severe mitochondrial disorders to have children who are not affected and who are mostly

genetically related to them (Darnovsky 16). It is important to remember that we imperfect

humans make many mistakes; it's the way we have been and the way we always will be. Thus,

we are not at a stage where we can fully control the latest inventions and technology. Baker

states, There is a new device which is getting a lot of attention that can be used for either

medical purposes as well as as personal pleasure. Fueling concern is new technology, in

particular the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat system (CRISPR/Cas9).

This makes gene editing far faster, cheaper, and more precise than ever before. Using RNA to
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guide the Cas9 enzyme into the nucleus of a cell, CRISPR snips and repairs genetic mutations or

adds genetic material (Baker 276). It is very important that life changing technology like this be

used only for the sole purpose of curing and not to design: your own baby. Yat-sen University

and colleagues used CRISPR/Cas9 to alter the gene responsible for -thalassemia, a life

threatening blood disorder in 86 non-viable human embryos (Baker 16). Its remarkable that we

are at a stage where we can fix these disorders, but does that mean it is 100% accurate every

time? Not quite; it is more like a hit or miss, only succeeding every couple times. This is

saying, doctors looking to use these systems of technology for the commercial side of designer

babies don't want you to know.

Some proponents of nuclear genome transfer try to hitch it onto reproductive rights and

justice movements, and to justify risky experiments as allowing women to make informed,

personal choices about reproductive technologies. But first and foremost, these are biologically

extreme technologies that would use womens and childrens bodies as ground zero for their

experiments. It is the women and children who will be encouraged by soothing words and

images, and then be asked to bear the risks while a fertility

clinic collects an estimated 80,000 pounds for each

attempted treatment (Cussins 18). The cost of designer

babies would be tremendous, which would mean only the

wealthy would be able to have such treatments, and as a

result could lead to many conflicts like having a distinction

in physical appearance, intelligence, occupations and talents

between the rich and the poor.


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In order to avoid all the possible Cons that this powerful form of technology could bring

such a new type of Aryan race reform, extreme costs, and the potential dangers to our race and

health, we should use genome editing strictly for medicinal purposes like preventing preborn

diseases and disorders.If we do we can stand assured that technology with such a strong impact

can be used for a greater good.

There are many risks that come to play with designer babies. Moreover, genes often

work in tandem and there is always the chance that disrupting one gene may disrupt large

signalling pathways leading to cell damage. Possibility of damage to the gene pool also becomes

a real threat (Das 1349). These kind of procedures would produce modifications in every cell of

any resulting children, and in subsequent generations as well affecting our society and the human

race in ways we cant envision or understand. We should undoubtedly embrace this new and

fascinating new era we live in today and by all means and use all our new resources to its full

potential, but use with utmost caution and only with the intention of helping those that need and

would medically benefit from it.


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Works Cited

Baker, Beth. "The Ethics of Changing the Human Genome." Bioscience, vol. 66, no. 4,

4/1/2016, pp. 267-273. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/biosci/biw017.

https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=voh&AN=114323505&site=eds-live

Cussins, Jessica and Marcy Darnovsky. "Why Worry about Genetically Modified

Babies?." Genewatch, vol. 27, no. 3, Sep-Nov2014, p. 16. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb

&AN=100043734&site=eds-live.

Das, Jayashree, et al. "Redesigning Nature: To Be or Not to Be?." Current Science

(00113891), vol. 112, no. 7, 10 Apr. 2017, pp. 1346-1350. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.18520/cs/v112/i07/1346-1350.

https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=aph&AN=123744705&site=eds-live

Ossareh, Tandice. "Would You Like Blue Eyes with That? A Fundamental Right to

Genetic Modification of Embryos." Columbia Law Review, vol. 117, no. 3, Apr. 2017,

pp. 729-766. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph

&AN=122621594&site=eds-live.

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