Designer Babies

By: Damea: David U.

Aya I. Malik F. Emily C

HistoryMid 1900s, embryologist Jacques Cohen

discovered a possibly new method for helping nonproductive women have children. His technique, known as cytoplasmic transfer, was intended to “liberate” the eggs of infertile women who had encountered multiple, failed attempts at in vitro fertilization, or IVF. It included injecting the cytoplasm found inside the eggs of the bearing donor, into the patient’s egg.

Designer BabiesDefinition-A child who’s genotype, and thus

physical characteristics and susceptibility to hereditary disease, is selected by it’s parents.

NegativesThe advent of designer babies will effect biodiversity. It

will reduce the child’s freedom to choose for themselves.

Traits influenced by multiple genes. A gene effects intelligence only in combination with other genes so we are unlikely to find single genes whose modification would reliably produce a specific trait.

The cost of a designer baby is about a average person’s yearly earning.

It is complex, and any mistake can alter the lives of many generations.

The process is not limited to screening for genetic and hereditary disorders.

BenefitsCould replace the gene that causes a horrific disease. More

intelligent and more likely to succeed.Also, they can become a donor to a family member who has a

disease . So, they have a higher chance of survival.Will make the governments job easier to warrant PGD, (pre-

implantation genetic diagnosis)and, restricting the practice of PGD to government hospitals and clinics would make it easy for the government to keep the PGD practice in check and ensure that medical practitioners do not use PGD for anything other than rectifying genes that can cause disease.

Used to improve efficiency of organisms. It would spare the child great suffering and provide the chance

to lead a normal life. 

Examples A 30 year married geneticist who will almost certainly lose her mind due to

Alzheimer's disease by age 40 chose to have her embryos tested in vitro for the disease gene. She planted the embryos in her womb, without the disease gene. The result was a healthy baby girl.

Adam Nash was the world's first known designer baby born by the revolutionary pre-implantation process. Scientists genetically selected his embryo so that he would possess the right cells to save his dying sister's life.

Michelle and Jayson Whitaker want to use stem cells from newborn son Jamie's umbilical cord to treat his brother who has a life-threatening blood disorder. Jamie's selection was carried out during the embryo stage, when a near-perfect match to his four-year-old brother, Charlie, was made.

A baby born in England recently was chosen in the embryonic stage to be free of a gene linked with certain types of cancer.

Two couples whose families have been ravaged by breast cancer are to become the first to screen embryos to prevent them having children at risk of the disease,

The FutureParents can pick the eye color, skin color, and the height of

their baby. All of this will soon come true and then more. You will be able to choose exactly what you want your child to be like.

Might possibly be able to make humans more like animals in stamina and speed.

Will be able to feed the hungry because the children will be very smart so they can solve harder problems.

Being able to transplant pig genes into ailing humans to produce a protein in which the human was deficient. The technology promises to save live and diminish suffering.

many animals have skills we do not possess for example limb regeneration. We can identify those genes and, in theory, it may be possible in the future to incorporate those functions into humans

Ethical IssuesA gene can affect intelligence only in combination with other

genes. Many genes have more than one effect.An additional copy of a gene is called NR2B. A copy of NR2B can

in a way disrupt the function of another gene crucial for survival.Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party set out to design the perfect race.

One man’s desire to create the perfect race lead to the death of millions.

There are serious ethical problems when people seek to play God by testing embryos to see if they have certain features and discarding the embryos that do not have the desired features in the baby.

In fantasy sports, you get to pick your favorite players from each team and build your fantasy dream team. So imagine having a baby and picking your favorite traits: blue eyes, blonde hair, tall, athletic, intelligent and have them installed into your fetus. 

The CostThe cost of a designer baby is about 30,000

to 40,000 dollars.

Opinion About Designer Babies Malik: I am against making designer babies because I believe that we

are killing people who are all naturally born and not artificially made by our parents. Also, we are just transplanting on what we want and do not think about the costs of the decision.

David: I am against making designer babies because I think it is a waste of the money, that could be spend on something more reasonable and it does not give any benefits what so ever .

Emily: I am neutral about designer babies because in certain situations they could help and save someone’s life, but on the other hand if someone like Hitler got a hold of that kind of technology we would be doomed because his vision led to the death of millions.

Aya: I am neutral with the topic designer babies because I believe that the only reasons for making a designer baby should be that either one, the child may have the trait for a serious disease . Or two, a family member has a serious disease and the designer baby can become a donor, so the sick family member can have a higher chance of survival.

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