Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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
Barber, Burrell, Hendron, Ramirez 2
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
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
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
Barber, Burrell, Hendron, Ramirez 3
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
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
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
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
Works Cited
Baker, Beth. "The Ethics of Changing the Human Genome." Bioscience, vol. 66, no. 4,
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
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb
&AN=100043734&site=eds-live.
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,
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=122621594&site=eds-live.