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Topic on genetic engineering
GENETIC ENGINEERING IN Genetics thesis
Topic on genetic engineering
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Topic on genetic engineering
GENETIC ENGINEERING IN Genetics thesis
Topic on genetic engineering
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Alexis Wolf Professor Julia Gousseva October 29th 2017 Critical Reading 112 Are designer babies the future? Just think about it, designing the traits of your future child to look specifically however you want. The article “The Life Editor” by Michael Page discusses the idea of scientifically modifying genes and the possibilities the methods of gene editing can hold. Page describes the new innovation called CRISPR gene editing.
Technology has had a tremendous effect on how we live our lives raging from how we find information, communicate, and travel the world. Medical technology is well on the way to allowing parents to create designer babies, modifying the DNA of a fetus to achieve desirable traits among them. This ultimately changes their life. It may seem beneficial at the time, but it can cause more harm than good because it goes against nature. Designer babies could lead to new discoveries, but is it right for parents to do?
In today’s world, you can have your baby with blue eyes, perfect height, and how you want your baby to look when is old. Now we can even make a baby be born smart because now scientists are more specialized in genetic and how the genes work. For example, if women can’t have babies she can rent a belly from another woman so she can have the baby but the baby is going to have the DNA of the women who can’t have babies, not of the other woman. Is pretty impressive how today scientist can modify genetically the genes of babies before they are even born. Now in today’s world is almost possible to create the perfect baby if we want.
Genetically modified embryos, test tube babies, and designer babies may seem like far out ideas that are just written about in dystopian novels such as Brave New World. Aldous Huxley’s novel describes a society where all the babies are created and born in bottles. The babies’ genes are manipulated to make smart, good looking alphas all the way down to impaired, identical epsilons. That society believes that having these social distinctions is necessary for their civilization to be in harmony and not collapse. American society today may not be too far from these “radical” ideas.
The scientific term “designer baby” refers to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in-vitro fertilization or IVF to ensure the presence or the absence of particular genes or characteristics. Doctors and scientist work together to conduct these procedures, and work to advance the technology and options for choosing an unborn child’s traits. Some even refer to “designer babies” as “test tube babies.” The reasoning behind these given names is because before the child is even born, the genes and DNA can be altered in a lab in a petri dish. When families choose IVF for “designer babies,” the doctors use biotechnology to choose what type of baby the family wants.
People should always take a risk to improve themselves especially if there is nothing to lose. “Flowers for Algernon” is a unique short story about ethics and self-improvement written by Daniel Keyes. The main character, Charles Gordon has a low IQ, but goes through some surgery to have his IQ increase three times. Readers experience his mental change through his many progress reports and can read about how his intelligence rapidly spikes at an alarming rate. After his IQ level reached the peak, it decreased as quickly as it increased.
I feel the strongest about designer babies. Based on my oversevation I fell that designer babies are good and bad. I believe that designer babies are bad for many reasons. I believe this because in the bible it says “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” The bible also says “This is the book of the generations of Adam.
Designer babies have been the debate for a few years now, placed upon a shaky moral platform. With human science pushing the boundaries of human genetics further and further, many are questioning if designer babies have finally crossed the line in science. The problem is that people view designer babies on a moral perspective rather than a medical one. Designer babies should be tolerated because they can help parents prevent their offspring from having certain diseases and disabilities.
I do believe parents should be able to pick genetic characteristics of their children, only if it is absolutely necessary and the parents want to have their own child. Some of the pros to this might be that the parents have a high chance of a genetic disease, so a designer baby might be necessary to reduce or remove that genetic disease. I feel that designer babies should only be designed if it is some genetic disease or something that would harm the baby only to eliminate the disease. Designer babies can prevent genetic disorders, which can create a healthier generation of kids in the future. Therefore this can eliminate genetic diseases for everyone and make future reproduction easier by not having to use designer babies again.[1]
If people want to design their apartment, people will usually tend to look in catalogs to choose what they desire. Even when you enter a restaurant, a waiter gives you the menu to choose whatever appeals to you. Whether it is a food or a piece of furniture, you have several choices to choose from. What if this becomes implemented in all aspects of our lives even our babies. Let us imagine, a newly married couple wants to have a baby, therefore they went to the doctor; looked into a catalog and choose a beautiful baby girl with blue eyes, high intelligence, and a great sense of music!
In many countries, it is illegal to create a designer baby, but in the United States, there is no law against it (Knoepfler, The Ethical Dilemma of Designer Babies, TedTalk). In his TedTalk, “The Ethical Dilemma of Designer Babies,” stem cell and genetics researcher, Paul Knoepfler, states the long-term risks of designer babies, describing it as “a kinder, gentler, positive eugenics.” He also touches on government involvement in this researcher; “I also think it 's not that unlikely that governments might start taking an interest in genetic modification. So for example our imagined GM Jenna child who is healthier, if there 's a generation that looks like they have lower healthcare costs, it 's possible that governments may start trying to compel their citizens to go the GM route.” I agree with many points Knoepfler makes in his TedTalk.
As technology advances, more things become possible. One of these things is genetically modifying a baby, this is very wrong. Genetic modifying or genetic engineering is altering someone or something’s DNA. Scientists hope to cure diseases with this method but doing this can lead to some harmful effects. This process is very unethical.
This procedure’s purpose is to switch out genes for more preferred ones, especially to improve the health of the child. Genetic engineering could permit selection of desired physical and pleasurable traits for non-medical reasons, which has created concern in some people. The process of switching out the genes of a fetus to install genes that are more preferred has brought up debate about whether or not parents should be able to alter their babies genes to make them more appealing to the parents interests. There are many different ways of looking at this procedure and in contrast to other scientific procedures it can be for greater good or for unnecessary enhancement that could potentially create problems in society. Designer babies aren’t morally correct or incorrect, but are in between depending on what it is being used for.
Have you ever wondered what Genetic Engineering for a designer baby is? Well there are so many things to know about it. First of all, you need to know what traits any parent is allowed to choose for their baby. You can choose the gender, appearance such as (hair color, eye color,etc.) also Intelligence, disease, and personality.
Is Genetic engineering Safe? Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism’s genetic composition by artificial means, often involving the transfer of specific traits, or genes, from one organism into a plant or animal of an entirely different species. Human beings ought to consider the pros and cons of genetic engineering before using it. It is a contentious topic because people have different views of weather genetic engineering is safe or not.