Lewis Wolpert Ethical Summary

Lewis Wolpert, a significant British developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster, constructed a controversial article called “Emphasising the ethics of designer babies is a way of avoiding the issue of child abuse” (October 22, 2003). This piece of writing was published in an online national morning newspaper called “The Independent” which was established in London, England. Within the article, Wolpert asserts that focusing on the ethics of the concept of designer babies is irrelevant in comparison to the ethics of child neglect that plagues society currently. To support his claim, the author utilized his own experience at the 50th anniversary celebration of the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA in which he analyzed the conversations he …show more content…
This idea is a relatively recent one, with religious underpinning but with neither argument nor evidence” (Wolpert 9). However, towards the end of the article Wolpert concludes that those discussions are insignificant. The main purpose of this article was to establish a counterargument and a new perspective on the topic of designer babies in order to show readers that the ethics of genetically modified children may not be as critical to analyze when considering the ethics of current child abuse.Wolpert specifically intended this article to reach an audience of those who partake in ethical discussions that solely focus on the potential of designer babies, as he rejects their reasoning and relevance of the topic. This source was published in a reliable, national newspaper which contributes to its credibility. Despite that, the author’s whole argument is only in support of his own opinions which decreases its usefulness immensely. But, since Wolpert is involved with the subject of biology, it does allow him the ability to have more credible opinions surrounding the topic of designer