This topic is very shocking! Who ever knew that our world has come to such a tragic state, that we have started to modify our own babies. The Bible states that we, humans are born in the image of God. Why are we trying to change that! Do you think God would want to look a certain way, or want his creation to start changing their ways? Our society is changing very drastically towards a negative path, and it is very disappointing to hear about such a shocking idea.[1]Basically, designer babies is a name given by journalists to describe the frightening scenario of using genetic technologies to modify embryos and choosing desirable or cosmetic characteristics for their babies. [1]Now a days, advanced reproductive technologies are allowing parents and doctors to screen embryos for genetic disorders and selecting the healthy embryos. This will decrease the chances of a baby being born with genetic diseases.
I had found a video on Youtube, and if you have the chance please take a look at it. I know its 9 minutes long, but it will deepen you understanding of the topic. Most of my information is based on the video and its a really great tool that will help you understand the topic of Designer Babies.
How is this possible?
[1]A technique called InVitro Fertilization or IVF fertilizes the eggs with sperm in test-tubes outside the mother's body in a laboratory. Right now it is legal to carry out only two types of advanced reproductive technologies in humans. One involves choosing the type of spem that will fertilize the egg (this is used to determine the sex and the genes of the baby). The other technique screens the embryo for genetic diseases. In this case, only some embryo's (the good ones) are then implanted back into the mother's womb. The process is known as Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis.
Mice 2x larger than normal mouse?
Of course like all scientific outbreaks for the human body, they have to be tested on animals first. In this case, rats were chosen to lead this experiment. The very first gene that was added to an embryo was a gene coding for growth hormones. The growth hormone gene from a rat was placed into a mouse embryo and when the mouse was born and it grew up, it grew up to twice the size of a normal mouse. Oh my gosh! What could this lead to? Could humans grow twice as tall?
The Future of Designing Babies
In reality, an artificial gene carrying an endless number of genes could be built. With the creation of an artificial chromosome, in the laboratory scientists can create a brand new chromosome that has hundreds of new genes and we can take that entire chromosome and enter it back into the embryo. This gives the genome a greater chance of being modified. So if this continues, it might even be possible to buy artificial chromosomes off the shelf. A perfect chromosome for anything you wished: physique, height, hair color, eye color and even longevity. Something interesting that came up during my research was that, the modification of genes could also increase artificial intelligence. But before an artificial chromosome like that could be put into a child, it would have to be tested on animals first. For this they have chosen the chimpanzees, since they share 99% of human DNA, so technically they are identical to human beings.
Already put to use?
People around the world have already conducted this process of designing their own babies. [4]One example is a couple, by the name of Monique and Scott Collins who have learned to their delight two years ago, when their long-wished-for daughter Jessica was born after genetic pre-screening at a fertility clinic in Fairfax, Virginia. Jamie Whitaker is one of the sweetest designer babies, along with his predecessors Adam Nash from Colorado in 2000 and an anonymous British girl in 2002. So as you can see many babies have already born with the use of this technology. Surprisingly before writing this blog, i never heard of it. That is a picture of Jamie Whitaker, one of the designer babies.
Consequences of Designing Babies
[5]This process is not cheap, and costs at least $20 000.00 according to newsvine.com. Looks will start to take over what really matters in this world. People are going to be judged based on looks, which will lead to segregation. What happens to the people who cannot afford this special treatment? What happens to them? Obviously they will be put aside. After all that, history will repeat itself and we would soon have ourselves another crisis where people will be segregated based on how they look. Do we really need all that?Although this technology has its benefits, people would not understand that and think beyond the big picture. So preventing such genetic disorders in a child when they are born is a great support for the cause, but would we really understand it that way. I can predict right now that this technology will start being put into the wrong use and it will get out of control.
Like I said in the beginning, creating the perfect baby is just plain wrong. Biotechnology is not used that way. It is suppose to provide aid to certain situations and finding cures to illnesses. How could you possible think of messing with a babies genes? Why are we trying to ruin the anxiety which builds up when you have the baby and you wonder what it would look like? Why would you want to ruin that special moment when you take the first look at your baby? It's magic which is showered onto us by the blessings of God. Why are we trying to play around with that? I do not approve to the cosmetic benefits of this technology, and if you have any views on this topic please share them.
[1] http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
[2] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9ep4B9Hw0
[4] http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm
[5] http://malathy.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/16/198093-designer-babies-cost-us19000
Hi Jarvis!
ReplyDeleteYou provided a wide range of information 'designer babies', like including a medical reason to an economic reason for this topic. I liked how you organized this, giving each sub-topic a title. although in some sub-topics, you don't extend their relationships with 'designer babies', for example, Jessica Collins is one of the first 'designer babies' but you did not state what her parents asked her genes to be or Jessica's state, if there is any problems she is having or how her parents feel about this now.
When stating that most people will over look the fact that this process was supposed to be use for medical purpose only, I believe gives a pro and a con deal towards this. The parents are clearly affected by social pressure and will do the best that they can to live up to society's expectations. If they fail at these themselves (which is what most people think) they have another option of living their lives again through their child. But i do not believe that parents are consciously implying that unto the creation of their offspring. The pro in this is that the parents will want the very best of their children and if there is a chance of improving the child's well-being, to be successful in life and to be happy, then I suspect that parents would jump at the chance. It is not selflessness that drives them to these circumstances; rather they want of their child being successful in life. And when a child is happy, then their parents are happy too.
Overall, the information that you display here gives the reader a chance to formulate their opinions about certain related topics and fields they never knew could be affected by this.
JARVIS! i really like this blog, especially the pictures. Those pictures added to the basic sense of the whole blog.It was really appropriate how you related the topic to religion and the image of God. The information was well researched and placed out well. I enjoyed reading this, made me laugh a bit but it made this topic a lot easier to understand.
ReplyDelete