Designer Babies

     Josef  Reuther   811

The article “Designer Babies” by Upfront Magazine author Patricia Smith talks about the scientific advancements that have led to scientists potentially enabling parents to customize their baby. Genetic engineering is close to giving scientists the ability to implant certain traits and characteristics in a baby. However the altering of a human life to make it more ideal raises many questions ethical questions for many people. Certain countries such as Canada, Australia, France and Denmark have already passed laws prohibiting scientists from altering the genetic code of a human in any way that it can be passed down to offspring. Personally the genetic engineering of babies to the likings of society contradicts my morality.

            These recent developments in the field of genetics have led to endless possibilities for scientists for example “what if parents could select the traits their children will be endowed with, picking from a catalog of options like “tall,” “High IQ,” “athletic,” or “musical”?” as Patricia Smith stated in the article. Parents could potentially design and customize their baby to their exact likings. As incredible and fascinating as this appears and seems genetically altered babies are still very new “If you get it wrong, you’re not only getting it wrong for that individual; it becomes inheritable,” as Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics aptly said. The results of genetically modifying babies are still very uncertain with yet to be discovered effects on society. The entire idea of altering humans to perfection in its own seems ironically very inhuman.

            Although these advancements have great benefits in making certain diseases that result from genetic defects things of the past, the genetic altering of the human genome takes it too far. “Every time we get a little closer to genetic tinkering to promote health- that’s exciting and scary,” as Dr. Alan Copperman, director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Mount Sinai Medical Center states “People are afraid it will turn into a dystopian brave new world.” These ideal babies will revolutionize the world we live in as well as spring up many new problems between social classes. People who are able to afford to have their child genetically altered to its benefit will bring children into the world that will be considered to superior to the children of family’s that cannot afford to genetically alter their children. These genetic alterations will bring many new problems to the world that we live in.

            Overall although modifying babies to make them appear “perfect” to society will simply arouse problems. The entire science behind it is very new and still uncertain in its outcome. By genetically altering one child one is also altering the genes of its entire offspring to come. Additionally some speculate that through the process of genetically modifying babies some good and positive traits may even be lost.