Who are we to play God?

Has genetic research gone too far? Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on researching for designer babies, when it could be spent on researching for incurable diseases. Scientists are now able to change the sex of the baby according to the parents' preference. The comical drawing shown here makes a joke out of designer babies. If the genetic research of designer babies continues, then more traits concerning the babies could be changed. Would there be any diversity in our world anymore? Imagine almost wherever you go, you see a blond, blued eyed person. How sick would that be? Now, this is an extreme example, but it could become reality if more parents decide to have a designer baby.

InVitro Fertilisation and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis are two techniques that work hand in hand to help "design" a baby. InVitro Fertilisation allows scientists to work with the sperm and eggs outside of the mother's body. The sperm and eggs are put in test tubes and are changed accordingly by the scientists. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis determines whether the embryos has a genetic disease or not. It is used to see whether or not a genetic disease would be passed on. The sperm and egg of the parents are observed by the scientists and the ones that don't contain genetic diseases are put back in the womb.

Germ line therapy is the name used when scientists replace faulty DNA in embryos with healthy DNA. The faulty DNA is what causes genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. However, this process is currently illegal, but body gene cell therapy, changing faulty DNA in adults, is legal.

Want a boy or a girl?

Research has perfected gender selection to reach an accuracy of almost 100%. Scientists separate the X and Y chromosome from the male sperm to fertilize the egg, depending on the desired gender. The Y chromosome carries less genetic information than the X chromosome, so scientists stain the sperm with nontoxic light sensitive dye to differentiate between the Y and X chromosomes. If the parents want a baby boy, then the Y chromosome from the male sperm would be used to fertilize the egg (XY chromosome). If the parents want a baby girl, then the X chromosome from the male sperm would be used to fertilize the egg (XX chromosome). Artificial insemination would be the technique used for this process. Artificial insemination used to insert sperm into a woman "manually" rather than the natural way.

Scientists at the Princeton University has conducted research on enhancing the brain through the use of mice. They put a gene known as the NR2B gene into the mice, which is suppose to encourage better brain development. What was observed was that the mice did learn faster, but were also more sensitive to pain. Are humans next to be experimented with? What if this gene disrupts other genes around it?

During the year 2000, the Nash family had a baby boy that contained the perfect tissue match for his older sister who had a genetic disease. This baby boy was selected through Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis and his tissue saved his sisters life. So, whose to say that the genetic research we've been conducting isn't useful? I strongly disagree with changing a baby before it's born for cosmetic reasons, but if we could help prevent genetic diseases that the baby is predicted to have, then I'm all for designer babies. Currently, to have your own designer baby, it would cost parents about $19 000.

Designer babies has created quite a stir ethically. Two lesbian couples in the U.S deliberately chose to have their child to be deaf. They felt that being deaf wasn't a disability, but more along the lines of cultural identity. The lesbian couple wanted to share this with their unborn child, thus asking the doctor to make their child deaf. Read more about this article through the following website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1916812.stm. This causes ethical issues and creates a social dilemma. People will read this article and feel that the research about designer babies has gone out of control.

Within the next decade or two, scientists predict that they would be able to determine the height, weight and even the child's IQ. Different genes that the parents don't have could even be created in labs, so that the designer baby could have different traits. Would the baby you've conceived even feel like yours anymore? Is it worth it to pay thousands of dollars to have your own designer baby?

The following is a video from the Today Show, commenting on designer babies.

Sources:

http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/