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(totally just a side for you because you thought this was really cute)
Some opinions shall we..?
There is a concern that genetic engineering will take on a role beyond that which God has given to us as stewards of His creation. The Bible states that all things were created by God and for Him (Colossians 1:16). God designed all living things to reproduce after certain “kinds” (Genesis 1:11-25). Too much manipulation of the genetics (altering species) could be tampering with things reserved for the Designer.
The social argument
If this technology becomes a realistic and accessible medical practice, then it would create a division between those that can afford the service and those that cannot. Therefore, the wealthy would be able to afford the selection of desirable traits in their offspring, while those of lower socioeconomic standing would not be able to access the same options. As a result, economic divisions may grow into genetic divisions, with social distinctions delineating enhanced individuals from un-
enhanced individuals.
My Opinion
Has it been done before?
I personally do not believe in genetically designing a personalized child. I ultimately feel that a child is a gift from god and is such a natural process that humans should just let fate take over, instead of trying to control it. I understand the desire to ulter genes for diseases, syndromes and other health related issues, because who would want their child to go through that. yet when it comes to personality\physical traits I feel that its completely unnecessary. humans are created to be imperfect and those imperfections ultimately determine a unique being. And that's something I wouldn't ever want to change.
An early and well-known case of gender selection took place in 1996 when Monique and Scott Collins saw doctors at the Genetics & IVF Institute for an in-vitro fertilization. The Collins’ intended to conceive a girl, as their first two children were boys and the couple wanted a daughter in the family. This was one of the first highly publicized instances of PGD in which the selection of the embryo was not performed to address a specific medical condition, but to fulfill the parents’ desire to create a more balanced family. The Collins’ decision to have a “designer baby” by choosing the sex of their child entered the public vernacular when they were featured in Time Magazine’s 1999 article "Designer Babies". Though the Collins’ case only involved choice of gender, it raised the issues of selection for other traits such as eye color, hair color, athleticism, or height that are not generally related to the health of the child.
What is a Designer Baby?
For my creative component, I wrote a poem, from the point of view of an only child who is just growing up and is 14 years old. She is the only child who isn't genetically modified, within her social circle. this includes school. The poem represents my opinion on how children might feel around "perfect" people and feeling isolated. This poem is about her going through the struggle of losing a friend due to differences as they grew up, and just feeling excluded due to her not feeling "good enough" from the start.
A designer baby is a baby genetically engineered in-vitro for specially selected traits, which can vary from lowered disease-risk to gender selection. Before the advent of genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization (IVF), designer babies were primarily a science fiction concept. However, the rapid advancement of technology before and after the turn of the twenty-first century makes designer babies an increasingly real possibility. As a result, designer babies have become an important topic in bioethical debates, and the term “designer baby” even became an official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. Designer babies represent an area within embryology that has not yet become a practical reality, but nonetheless draws out ethical concerns about whether or not it will become necessary to implement limitations regarding designer babies in the future.
Bibliography
I miss my best friend,
But everything good seems to have come to an end.
It's so sad, is it not?
At one point I felt that she was all I had got.
All the laughs, memories and joy we shared,
I can't help but wonder if now she even cares.
She's everything that I am not,
She has all the desired qualities, only what I've wished for... but never got.
My genes have not been altered
And my parents say I'm beautiful, my mom says I shouldn't let negative thoughts and words utter.
But I feel so alone,
I feel I'm on my own,
I feel as though everyone around me is like a drone.
Ugh, why wasn't I genetically engineered??
I wish I just disappeared.
Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, American Medical Association. “Ethical Issues Related to Prenatal Genetic Testing,” Archives of Family Medicine 3 (1994): 633–42.
Kitcher, Philip. “Creating Perfect People.” In Companion to Genetics, eds. Justine Burley and John Harris, 229–42. Boston: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.
Lemonick, Michael. “Designer Babies.” 153, Time Magazine, January 11, 1999.
Morales, Tatiana. CBS News. “Choosing Your Baby’s Gender.” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/06/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main528404.shtml (Accessed October 17, 2010).
Verlinsky, Yuri. “Designing Babies: What the Future Holds,” Reproductive BioMedicine Online 10 (2005): 24–6.