Designer Babies Case Study

Option 1: Designer Babies

What is a designer baby?

Designer baby is a non-scientific but popular journalistic term that refers to gene therapy, a technique that uses genes, screening, and modifying embryos to cure hereditary diseases. The term is also used to describe a possible scenario in which scientists choose specific traits or physical characteristics (genetic-makeup) before a baby is born. This process can help to remove many genetic diseases stemmed from defects in mitochondria ("BBC - Horizon - 2005 - Who 's Afraid Of Designer Babies", 2005).

What is the ethical question posed in these two videos at YouTube?

A few of the ethical questions that were directly related to the work of scientists and gene therapy are:

Laurie Zoloth,

Her argument is that we are using abnormal things to get rid of abnormal things; however, she didn’t explained how these abnormalities are different from many other abnormalities that are of great use to human health today. Another point she made was that some women suffer producing these eggs for research even though these women have given their consent. In order to justify this position, she said that because the only way we can see the result of these experiments is to wait and see how the embryo develops, this is an absolute ethical no(Tsiyonut times, 2012).

Some of the point can be formulated this way: How are we going to remove the potential side effects of these techniques by doing more research if the potential and existing side effects of these research are the primary point of objection?

Give two pros and two cons outlined in these videos.

Pros: removal of hereditary diseases and treatment for children born with diseases.

Cons: Side effects and potential unknown consequences for next generations and abusing the technique to make a human race with enhanced physical and cognitive abilities.

What specific argument and/or speaker (give their name if possible) influenced your the most or seemed the most powerful? Why?

Brian Biggers response to the question “Do we want kids with two mothers and one father and…we don’t want people with three or

I am not sure why the question was framed in this particular way because as a human being I am absolutely comfortable with children or families with more than 2 parents. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been this comfortable since I was an infant and had no worries and responsibilities.

One way to look at it is that I am not making an argument based on our history and the practice of “infant sharing”, when people cared for one another’s children, and the community was responsible for helping and nurturing children. I am simply saying if one is not comfortable with it that’s in no way an ethical argument.

I’m more uncomfortable with societies where the one’s linage and family tree determine the person’s level of success in the world and his/her social status; what is uncomfortable for me is single moms having 3 jobs and raising children with minimum or no help from many of the “ethically concerned citizens”. A segregated and hostile society is what makes me uncomfortable, not a child with three