You’ve got the sharp nose you want your future child to have, as well as the stunning eyes of your partner. These dreams can now transform into reality in the form of a designer baby, thanks to advancements in modern medical technologies. A “designer baby” is a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic modification in vitro to ensure that specific genes or traits are present or absent. Continue reading for the pros and cons of a designer baby.
What Is Designer Baby?
The word “designer baby,” which refers to the disapproval implication of the transformation of baby, has been taken from the “designer clothes.” The people endorsing it are liberal technophiles, Libertarians, and transhumanists. For ethical purposes, this method of having a “designer baby” is often questioned.
Designer babies are real things! They are kids with a genetic composition, which genetic engineers have artificially created. Owing to the success of IVF (in-vitro fertilization), the genes and features found in the child’s DNA are easy to identify. In other words, you can choose how your child works.
These are the characteristics that a parent should monitor according to studies:
- Gender
- Preferred appearance
- Intelligence level
- Removal of genetic disease
- Personality
Image Source – Haiku Deck
An Ethical View On Designer Babies
Although it is still an emotional and ethical outrage when it comes to determining the gender of your child, this genetic label by a broad number of people may have taken it a step too far. Why would we have to play God? And is there anything good coming out of it?
Let’s look at what can go wrong before we get to the good.
- This “development” could lead to a slow end to intercourse, maybe a reduction of intimacy and the normal occurrence of life on earth.
- The way genetics work forever could be damaged.
- It could build a further divide between the rich and the poor. The development of a “great” class of rich people and a perceived category of low-level “flawed.”
- If the process were not enforced, fertilization would stop.
- In this situation, the baby has no choice.
- Some children may have developed a complex.
Pros And Cons Of A Designer Baby
As with all emerging innovations, a designer baby has both benefits and drawbacks. There is also a list of the designer babies pro and con that you should know:
Pros of Designer Babies
While genetically modified babies for ethical and moral purposes are very questionable, there are many advantages of such treatment.
1. It decreases the probability of genetic disorders
It will help to decrease the likelihood of different genetic defects in your baby if you use genetic modification technology to create a designer baby. In certain ways, they are not only a means to minimize the risk of your baby being affected by certain health problems, but are also a way to improve the chances of survival of your baby.
2. Earlier improvement in lifestyle
By adding different factors to it, you might affect the thought and life of the child. Designing a baby can help you build some similar types of influences, but even before the baby is born, rather than impacting the child later in life. You can already develop the mental ability of your baby before your baby is even born, as opposed to forcing the baby to study hard and do well in the academic field.
3. Positive influence on the baby
The designer baby would have a positive cumulative effect on different aspects of life. Any aspects of your child’s life that you will certainly have a good effect on are the wellbeing of your child, the intellect of your child, the looks of your child, and more.
4. It will help increase the life expectancy
By editing the faulty genes of an unborn baby and only keeping healthy genes, the child can develop healthier. You can also increase their average life expectancy by up to 30 years.
5. Other benefits
- Less risk of developing genetic disorders
- Provides scientists and medical practitioners with a greater understanding of genetics
- Eliminates the incidence in future generations of known diseases
Image Source – The Daily Beast
Cons of Designer Babies
While there are some good things that can be obtained by the use of genetic modification used on unborn babies, it is often wondered if parents will have the “right” reasons to change their baby genetically, or whether justification will become more shallow. Here are some of the cons associated with babies’ genetic engineering.
1. Ethical And Moral Issues
If you have plenty of choices to eliminate the unwanted, it is almost the same as carrying out an abortion. In some cases, the parents even went forward and aborted the child depending on why the baby was created. Often the parents do it for money and donate their stem cells, and they don’t care about the baby at all.
2. Violation of the rights of your baby
When you continue the process of making a designer baby, without taking into account the permission or preference of the parent, you ultimately alter the life and mind of a living human being. In this situation, without your baby having any say in whether or not it is something your baby wants or not, you can change the mental, emotional, and physical makeup of your baby for life. Instead of being viewed more like a human being, it is a method in which your child will be used as a research experiment.
3. Can establish a marked gap in society
If more parents opt to go in for designer babies, the planet will soon be split into a class of designer babies as opposed to non-designer babies. As a result, babies created in the designer baby series would feel superior to born naturally with no genetic manipulation at all. Many who obey social standards assume that it could lead to a hostile atmosphere in the future.
4. Other Shortcomings
- Not entirely error-free and may contribute to the death of the unborn child.
- Can unintentionally lead to new forms of the disease, which scientists still do not know.
- Not affordable for all, and creating a class divide in which only the wealthy can afford designer babies
- Erases the personality of the child
- May remove those genes which could have helped the baby develop and grow overall.
Image Source – jda.es
The baby design program, initiated by Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, has now been terminated, but the research that has gone into it can never be deleted. Neither can the guarantee that for parents who are ready, there are doctors out there who can take on the procedure. In certain countries, while this method has been outlawed, there is little to deter parents from moving to countries where it remains legal. Only the future will determine if this approach is here to stay.
