PRADA baby

CHRISTMAS WISHLIST 09’

- Designer handbag
- Designer jeans
- Designer heels
- DESIGNER BABY?

Yes, designer babies only for three easy payments of $3999.99. You would get a choice of sex and eye colour and to demonstrate you our appreciation, we will throw in a choice of hair colour for FREE!!!

With our rapid scientific advances it won’t be long until you are able to basically order your children online, without the complications like sex. Scientist is introducing the new idea of allowing parents to pick certain genetic traits of their children. No longer do people have to worry about getting a boy or because they can MAKE it happen. When I first read about this idea, one thing popped in my head right away Mr. Potato head, a toy we loved. We were able to create him however we wanted him to be, which is not very different from these “designer babies”. The only difference is that we are talking about a real living baby created in God’s image and not a plastic potato toy.

So some of you may wonder what a designer baby is? According to Wikipedia it is a colloquial term, which refers to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering. It is done to ensure the presence or absence of a particular genes or characteristics. So where did this all come from? Let’s take a step back into history when this all started.

ONCE UPON A TIME…

In 1953 two men became famous for figuring the structure of DNA. Their names were James Watson and Francis Crick. Watson and Crick’s discovery paved the way for DNA research and led the scientific community to a deeper look of genes and heredity. In 1990 the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health in collaboration with several countries worldwide began conducting perhaps the biggest biology experiment ever, which sought to map out our DNA. They called this colossal endeavor “The Human Genome Project”. The scientist that launched the Human Genome Project believes that the power of genetic information to transform health care to allow earlier diagnoses of disease than ever before and to fuel the creation of powerful medicines. This new knowledge of DNA is changing prevention diagnosis and treatment in all health fields. The Human Genome project has allowed intriguing new discoveries that will certainly lead to prevention of some of today’s most deadly diseases. But knowing humans, we decided to uses this amazing scientific breakthrough to create a consumer market. Thus the birth of “designer babies”

Consequence



When we begin to manipulate certain traits through bio-technology we lose genuine relationship, we form an altered type of bond that is different from what common to us. Many people argue that they may choose the traits of their children will allow a closer bond because they will be more compatible and in common. But other say this will in fact take away the relationship that exists. After reading about a conference titled “Ethnic in the Age Genetic Engineering”, Michael Sandel, Professor of Government at Harvard University, explore the ramifications of designing children. I realized what I find objectionable about the quest for designer children, weather is IQ, height, blond hair, blue eyes or the ability to cure I think the worry has something to do with the idea that part of what makes the parent and child relationship special is that unlike every other relationship we have, we choose our friends we choose our spouses based on qualities we find attractive, but we don’t choose our children. We turn bio-technology into an instrument not a medicine for curing or preventing disease, but the instrument of the consumer society, turning children into commodities being able to pick and choose the genetic traits of children is morally troubling and the distinction must be made in the two. These practices will turn children into nothing more than consumer goods, a car’s a commodity meant to have flexibility in colour and décor, but children are not. The risk of going beyond the medical use is that we will recast the relation of parents to children.
But others argue the loss of human relations will not occur, but a superior race will evolve when we are able to choose the features of the next generation. But this impractical to believe because there is no proof supporting the claim that people with a certain eye colour or attractiveness will be better in anyway. If we do have a certain idea what a superior race is are we any different form Hitler? The only difference would be we decided to do it with in test tube, while he used guns and bombs.

‘Genetic manipulation and enhancement will be the real ethical challenge for us, because it will bring into question the very nature of what it means to be human’
- Professor. Gregory Stock

In addition some parts of the world female babies are aborted for cultural reasons, as a result there is a huge imbalance between the population of male and female in these nations. What would happen in there nations when people are able to genetically engineer the sex of the children? Also genetic selection may lead to a new problem; genetically enhanced people may be separate from their natural born counterparts and given special privileges. We have enough alienation as it is without inventing more.

LOSS OF TRUE BEAUTY

Can human genetic technology lead to a loss of beauty, while it seems at the that goal of a designer baby is to create a perfect and attractive being there something to be said about the uniqueness of a society, that makes the world in which we live so beautiful. Each person has that special which contributes to overall splendor of the world. When human genetic technologies are used to select these traits, the world will become standardized. Many may argue that the selection of these traits will result in greater beauty, eliminating undesired imperfections. But in reality is it the distinct exquisiteness of vary people that make the world so attractive and this is the beauty that must be preserved.

In Hil-Ching’s Thought Bubble…

For all these developments it makes me wonder whether scientific advances always lead to a better society. Are scientific progress and human development running on the same thing? Problem is not with the technology itself. We have the technology; the problem is the practical, moral and ethical consequences of using our knowledge.
What was designed to help eliminate deadly heredity disease will possibly become an instrument of the consumer’s society. The goal to create a perfect and attractive being should not come before the way nature intended us to be. God created us all in him image, we are a part of God and the selection of genes based merely on cosmetic benefits, such eye colours and hair colours, is like changing a part God. God created us, thus we are all beautiful in one way or another. You must do you part in preserving this beauty. Every person has the right to emerge and develop as God intended with the characteristics and individuality given at birth and treasure the valuable relationships of this beautiful society. Beauty is truly found in the uniqueness of society filled with a vast array of talent interest and magnificence.

We really have no way of knowing the genetic changes we made today will pay out in the world of our children’s children. We are making changes that would affect many generations to come. Can we really take that kind of responsibility?

I believe that this all come down to humans desire to claim perfection. But as Antoine de-Saint Exupery said ,”Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness .“ As far as I know as long as we are alive on this earth we will never attain perfection, and maybe that is the beauty of it.

Our scientific discoveries can be our proudest achievement, or our curse.

It is our choice.





Works Cited:
http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/great-designer-baby-controversy-%E2%80%9909
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont3.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439771603075099.html