Is it Worth it?
One of our last essays we were asked to write was a persuasive essay equipped with a works cited page, in which we took a stand on something, and worked to persuade our audience to think the same way. I chose to write my essay on whether it should be allowed to "design your baby." We also had to state who the intended audience was at the top of our paper.
WHO IS THIS PAPER INTENDED FOR: This essay is placed in a brochure, which is sitting on a table in a doctor’s office before couples go in and talk about in-vitro fertilization and the process of choosing their child’s characteristics and genes.
Is it Worth it?
Many have heard it before…the story that ends up getting your parents on an excited rampage explaining exactly how you came about in this world. They go into great, unnecessary, and disgusting detail of when, where, and what exactly happened, leaving us screaming for them to be quiet. None of us take into account just how unique we are, we each have our own story, our own beginning and we each have our own special, unique, and interesting characteristics that makes us exactly who we are, a mixture of both our parents. Now, I want you to do something for me, I want you to imagine a world in which children weren’t conceived in beds or on honeymoons, but instead they were developed in laboratories, through a process of in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg would be taken from the mother and would split into eight identical embryos, with characteristics genetically chosen to look how the parents wanted, including eye, hair, and skin color, along with exhibiting certain personality traits. Should it be possible to design your own baby? No, parents should not be able to genetically design their children because of the ethical implications this would cause to our society.
In today’s day and age, many people are unaware of exactly what a “designer baby” is; let alone what the term means. To begin, and give you some background of this process, the term “designer baby” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, and is defined as, “a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in-vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics” (Agar.) The way scientist came about finding this process is through the human genome, which holds many secrets of how our bodies work, including potential cures for many serious diseases. In 2003, scientists began not only unraveling the human genome, but also analyzing the 100,000 different genes sitting on 23 different pairs of chromosomes that come together to make up the genome. Their goals were to try and figure out what each specific gene does, how it functions, and what would happen if it was removed or altered, and finally, in 2008, the scientists found out that it is entirely possible to manipulate embryo genes (Bonsor.) Finding out about the possibility of manipulating embryo genes has opened many doors in the process of biotechnology, also making it possible for certain characteristics and genes to be added to embryos-during a process known as germline gene therapy-before being placed back into the mother’s fetus after the process of in-vitro fertilization was complete.
The process of designing your own baby would be nothing short of expensive, which inhibits poor and powerless people to take advantage of this new way of having children. It is estimated that to design your own child would cost upwards around $180,000 (Pros and Cons) leaving the wealthy and powerful citizens the only people that could afford this practice. With the price being so expensive, there also are a lot of other problems. Since only the wealthy can take advantage of this process, the babies designed already have superior advantage over the poor from the second they are born because not only are they automatically born into a wealthy family, but they also are designed to be more physically attractive, exhibit more intelligence, and also are more physically fit because their parents all chose for them to exhibit these specific genes. Having children that are already more equipped for life then lower class citizens intensifies the gap between rich and poor even more, making it more difficult for the poor to not only survive, but also strive (Tesia).
Like with any new piece of technology or new scientific process, there are always going to be very likely chances of the process not working, and this is another huge issue regarding designing your children. Designing your children is not a guaranteed success. The parents that could afford this extensive process could quite possibly be waiting around for their perfect child, which may never come. They spent thousands of dollars choosing exactly what their child would look like and what traits/ characteristics they want the child to exhibit only to find out upon their child’s arrival, he/she doesn’t have any of the traits they originally wanted. If this is the case, what are the parents going to do? They can’t return or reject the baby like many do with designer products if they aren’t satisfied (Tesia). The parents will be left with a child looking entirely different then they expected. Leaving the parents extremely dissatisfied, and ‘stuck’ with this child that not only holds any of their personal characteristics, but also none of the characteristics they had originally chosen. Aside from the process not working, many other health complications could arise if the process was a success.
Another huge problem focusing around designer babies is, many people are worried that these children will be classified as ‘post-human’ because as a society we are focusing too much on the genetics of a child. If people take up this process, there will be changes among descendants that will eventually result in all humanity being lost (Agar)… If we adopt this process, there will no longer be families that look-alike or sound alike, or have similar personalities because everyone will be genetically created, losing the purpose of family. “No one should be playing God” (Tesia.) Childbirth should be an intimate and magical technique shared between two people, and although I’ve never experienced it, I believe that there is something about the feeling you get when parents hold their child in their arms for the first moment, knowing that is the child they were destined to have, he/she was not genetically chosen. I remember hearing my nana explain a few years back; “I remember holding you in my arms for the very first time. I could tell from that very second you were going to look more like your dad as you grew up as compared to your mom. The smile your parents had on their face was something unexplainable, they were so proud.” I believe that hearing stories like that truly says something… if people start adopting the process of designing babies, these stories are going to start disappearing, and will be replaced with, “I remember when your parents went to the lab to talk to the scientists about what they wanted their child to look and act like, and then you were placed back into your mother, and nine months later they had you, a tailor-made child.”
Many people argue that this technique makes it possible to stop a disease before occurring. Before the embryo is implanted back into the mother’s fetus, the embryo is screened for genetic disorders, reducing the baby’s chances of being born with diseases such as Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and other very serious and sometimes even rare blood disorders. Also, people are taking into account that many children automatically inherit medical conditions (such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, etc) (Johnson.) Parents know how upsetting and difficult living with these conditions are, so many couples are very reluctant to do anything to make sure their children will not inherit any of these very serious medical conditions. It’s obvious that this is a huge circling around designer babies, and I am sure you are asking why anyone would reject this technique after hearing of the possibility preventing many serious diseases and conditions. However, what about the possibility of this not actually working? I may seem like a cynicist, but I believe that in very certain circumstances it is better ‘to be safe than sorry.’ Although it would be absolutely great to completely eliminate any disease or medical condition from our memory, but I believe there will be other ways to do this. People should not be going against the tradition of childbirth to create an artificially ‘perfect’ baby. People get handed very serious obstacles, but it is their job to overcome these obstacles. Also, relating back to how expensive this process would be. I don’t think it is fair to the less wealthy citizens because they don’t have the funds to make their child disease free. Once again the wealthy will continue to strive with perfect, disease free children while the underclass citizens will be struggling to make ends meat with a child who may need medical help and the parents don’t have the means to pay for it.
In conclusion, the process of designing your baby is something that is slowly working it’s way into everyday society. Although at this time the process is used mostly to prevent diseases, researchers are predicting that in the next few years more and more people will be adopting the process for their own use, to create a ‘tailor-made’ child. With this process it is not guaranteed a success nor would it be fair to everyone because the wealthy would be the ones taking advantage of such an expensive act. Now, I want you to do something for me again, imagine a world where babies would be created in laboratories, not in beds or on honeymoons. The child wouldn’t look like either of his/her parents, and this would cause a completely different generation of flawless human beings, and there would eventually be no such thing as descendants because everyone would have been tailored to look how the parents wanted them to look. After taking everything into consideration, do you think the price of giving up our humanity and our strong meaning of family is worth it?
Works Cited
Agar, Nicolas. "Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations." ActionBioScience. Action Bio Science, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html>.
Bonsor, Kevin, and Julia Layton. "How Designer Children Work." How Stuff Works? Discovery, 10 May 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://adf.ly/186661/banner/science.howstuffworks.com/designer-children.htm>.
"Pros and Cons of Designer Babies." SteadyHealth.com. Steady Health, 25 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. <http://ic.steadyhealth.com/pros_and_cons_of_designer_babies.html>.
Tesia. "Designer Babies." Designer Babies-Good or Bad? BlogSpot, 10 June 2009. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. <http://designerbabies-jtcc.blogspot.com/2009/06/designer-babies-good-or-bad_10.html>.
Johnson, Priya. "Pros and Cons of Designer Babies." Buzzle.com. Buzzle, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html>.
WHO IS THIS PAPER INTENDED FOR: This essay is placed in a brochure, which is sitting on a table in a doctor’s office before couples go in and talk about in-vitro fertilization and the process of choosing their child’s characteristics and genes.
Is it Worth it?
Many have heard it before…the story that ends up getting your parents on an excited rampage explaining exactly how you came about in this world. They go into great, unnecessary, and disgusting detail of when, where, and what exactly happened, leaving us screaming for them to be quiet. None of us take into account just how unique we are, we each have our own story, our own beginning and we each have our own special, unique, and interesting characteristics that makes us exactly who we are, a mixture of both our parents. Now, I want you to do something for me, I want you to imagine a world in which children weren’t conceived in beds or on honeymoons, but instead they were developed in laboratories, through a process of in-vitro fertilization, in which an egg would be taken from the mother and would split into eight identical embryos, with characteristics genetically chosen to look how the parents wanted, including eye, hair, and skin color, along with exhibiting certain personality traits. Should it be possible to design your own baby? No, parents should not be able to genetically design their children because of the ethical implications this would cause to our society.
In today’s day and age, many people are unaware of exactly what a “designer baby” is; let alone what the term means. To begin, and give you some background of this process, the term “designer baby” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, and is defined as, “a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in-vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics” (Agar.) The way scientist came about finding this process is through the human genome, which holds many secrets of how our bodies work, including potential cures for many serious diseases. In 2003, scientists began not only unraveling the human genome, but also analyzing the 100,000 different genes sitting on 23 different pairs of chromosomes that come together to make up the genome. Their goals were to try and figure out what each specific gene does, how it functions, and what would happen if it was removed or altered, and finally, in 2008, the scientists found out that it is entirely possible to manipulate embryo genes (Bonsor.) Finding out about the possibility of manipulating embryo genes has opened many doors in the process of biotechnology, also making it possible for certain characteristics and genes to be added to embryos-during a process known as germline gene therapy-before being placed back into the mother’s fetus after the process of in-vitro fertilization was complete.
The process of designing your own baby would be nothing short of expensive, which inhibits poor and powerless people to take advantage of this new way of having children. It is estimated that to design your own child would cost upwards around $180,000 (Pros and Cons) leaving the wealthy and powerful citizens the only people that could afford this practice. With the price being so expensive, there also are a lot of other problems. Since only the wealthy can take advantage of this process, the babies designed already have superior advantage over the poor from the second they are born because not only are they automatically born into a wealthy family, but they also are designed to be more physically attractive, exhibit more intelligence, and also are more physically fit because their parents all chose for them to exhibit these specific genes. Having children that are already more equipped for life then lower class citizens intensifies the gap between rich and poor even more, making it more difficult for the poor to not only survive, but also strive (Tesia).
Like with any new piece of technology or new scientific process, there are always going to be very likely chances of the process not working, and this is another huge issue regarding designing your children. Designing your children is not a guaranteed success. The parents that could afford this extensive process could quite possibly be waiting around for their perfect child, which may never come. They spent thousands of dollars choosing exactly what their child would look like and what traits/ characteristics they want the child to exhibit only to find out upon their child’s arrival, he/she doesn’t have any of the traits they originally wanted. If this is the case, what are the parents going to do? They can’t return or reject the baby like many do with designer products if they aren’t satisfied (Tesia). The parents will be left with a child looking entirely different then they expected. Leaving the parents extremely dissatisfied, and ‘stuck’ with this child that not only holds any of their personal characteristics, but also none of the characteristics they had originally chosen. Aside from the process not working, many other health complications could arise if the process was a success.
Another huge problem focusing around designer babies is, many people are worried that these children will be classified as ‘post-human’ because as a society we are focusing too much on the genetics of a child. If people take up this process, there will be changes among descendants that will eventually result in all humanity being lost (Agar)… If we adopt this process, there will no longer be families that look-alike or sound alike, or have similar personalities because everyone will be genetically created, losing the purpose of family. “No one should be playing God” (Tesia.) Childbirth should be an intimate and magical technique shared between two people, and although I’ve never experienced it, I believe that there is something about the feeling you get when parents hold their child in their arms for the first moment, knowing that is the child they were destined to have, he/she was not genetically chosen. I remember hearing my nana explain a few years back; “I remember holding you in my arms for the very first time. I could tell from that very second you were going to look more like your dad as you grew up as compared to your mom. The smile your parents had on their face was something unexplainable, they were so proud.” I believe that hearing stories like that truly says something… if people start adopting the process of designing babies, these stories are going to start disappearing, and will be replaced with, “I remember when your parents went to the lab to talk to the scientists about what they wanted their child to look and act like, and then you were placed back into your mother, and nine months later they had you, a tailor-made child.”
Many people argue that this technique makes it possible to stop a disease before occurring. Before the embryo is implanted back into the mother’s fetus, the embryo is screened for genetic disorders, reducing the baby’s chances of being born with diseases such as Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and other very serious and sometimes even rare blood disorders. Also, people are taking into account that many children automatically inherit medical conditions (such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, etc) (Johnson.) Parents know how upsetting and difficult living with these conditions are, so many couples are very reluctant to do anything to make sure their children will not inherit any of these very serious medical conditions. It’s obvious that this is a huge circling around designer babies, and I am sure you are asking why anyone would reject this technique after hearing of the possibility preventing many serious diseases and conditions. However, what about the possibility of this not actually working? I may seem like a cynicist, but I believe that in very certain circumstances it is better ‘to be safe than sorry.’ Although it would be absolutely great to completely eliminate any disease or medical condition from our memory, but I believe there will be other ways to do this. People should not be going against the tradition of childbirth to create an artificially ‘perfect’ baby. People get handed very serious obstacles, but it is their job to overcome these obstacles. Also, relating back to how expensive this process would be. I don’t think it is fair to the less wealthy citizens because they don’t have the funds to make their child disease free. Once again the wealthy will continue to strive with perfect, disease free children while the underclass citizens will be struggling to make ends meat with a child who may need medical help and the parents don’t have the means to pay for it.
In conclusion, the process of designing your baby is something that is slowly working it’s way into everyday society. Although at this time the process is used mostly to prevent diseases, researchers are predicting that in the next few years more and more people will be adopting the process for their own use, to create a ‘tailor-made’ child. With this process it is not guaranteed a success nor would it be fair to everyone because the wealthy would be the ones taking advantage of such an expensive act. Now, I want you to do something for me again, imagine a world where babies would be created in laboratories, not in beds or on honeymoons. The child wouldn’t look like either of his/her parents, and this would cause a completely different generation of flawless human beings, and there would eventually be no such thing as descendants because everyone would have been tailored to look how the parents wanted them to look. After taking everything into consideration, do you think the price of giving up our humanity and our strong meaning of family is worth it?
Works Cited
Agar, Nicolas. "Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations." ActionBioScience. Action Bio Science, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html>.
Bonsor, Kevin, and Julia Layton. "How Designer Children Work." How Stuff Works? Discovery, 10 May 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://adf.ly/186661/banner/science.howstuffworks.com/designer-children.htm>.
"Pros and Cons of Designer Babies." SteadyHealth.com. Steady Health, 25 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. <http://ic.steadyhealth.com/pros_and_cons_of_designer_babies.html>.
Tesia. "Designer Babies." Designer Babies-Good or Bad? BlogSpot, 10 June 2009. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. <http://designerbabies-jtcc.blogspot.com/2009/06/designer-babies-good-or-bad_10.html>.
Johnson, Priya. "Pros and Cons of Designer Babies." Buzzle.com. Buzzle, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html>.