How would you feel if your doctor asked you what type of child you wanted? Boy or girl? Blue or green eyes? Brown or blonde hair? Tall or short? These questions seem odd to most people but the truth is this seems to possibly be the new trend. Dr. Jeffery Steinberg had already tested the water and now even prides himself in being almost 80% sure he can increase your odds of having a “designer baby.” The procedure that Steinberg uses is called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis or known as PGD. Its original purpose was to screen embryos in order to early diagnose any problems involving disabilities. This procedure has now gotten as technically as picking out your baby’s features and attributes piece by piece.
As we talked about in class, with this new feature comes the “ethical debate.” Is this ethical? We recently learned that unethical experiments really cannot be sought out, but since this is still in the air, doctors like Steinberg will continue to practice it until told otherwise. Sternberg says “Designing your baby is on the verge of becoming reality. The question for parents, doctors, and society is progress and if they are on board.” Many people around the globe have gone to Steinberg for help with picking a preferred gender for their new born. After researching him specifically he even describes the science involved with picking your baby’s gender. He explains, “Science initially worked to allow for an accurate method of safely separating sperm to allow the majority of those sperm capable of producing the desired gender (“X” sperm or “Y” sperm) to be exposed to the female egg (oocyte).”
People are beginning to argue that this new advancement has gone extremely too far already. Check out this clip that ABC news covered on the matter. Another concern that comes into play is the poor vs. rich debate. Will only rich people be able to have the “perfect children” leaving everyone else to have regular non manipulated children? Will there be a separation in society from the “perfect” vs the “regular” people? According to Art Caplan who is an ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania this may be an actual concern in the near future. Is this new trend playing with the big man upstairs, or is it going to be the way of our own futures?
Sources:
“Select the Gender of Your Next Baby.” Gender Selection Centers. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
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This is a very polarizing topic and I don’t even know which side to choose. There seems to be no harm in it, but I understand the poor vs. rich side of the argument.
I think this topic is extremely interesting because of the ethical debate that accompanies it. In my opinion, genetic engineering should be used to prevent genetic disorders when possible because it could save the child from a lifetime of suffering. What parent wouldn’t want to give their child the best start possible? Though some people may think of genetic manipulation as “playing God,” as science continues to advance, curing genetic disorders may become as commonplace as vaccinating against polio. This topic will undoubtedly spur debate as developments continue.
This is a very debatable topic, while designer children would be beneficial in stopping genetic disease, it would also create a whole new classification on how to sort people. People could be sorted based on their brains, but their brains were genetically modified, so is it really fair? There definitely needs to be more research done in the future because we have to know the consequences if we do this.