Leon Kasse once said, “There is a lot of hype and fear about this much-talked-about-prospect of designer babies”. The biotechnology of being able to design the sex, appearance, athletic ability, elimination of disease, and how smart a child will be is slowly but surely developing for children. Parents are now able to fix what couldn’t be fixed before, and that is opening doors to pregnancies in every which way. Parents will not have to worry about having a child with a life-threatening disease, and will possibly have a child who will have outstanding athletic ability. The question is, how ethical is it to be able to genetically select specific traits for your child? Individuals believe that genetic selection of children will help eliminate
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Early eugenics’ goal was to advance and create a human society characterized by “desirable" traits and eliminate “undesirable" traits. In addition, Arnold assures, “In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea of bettering society through science was so widespread that virtually every country around the world had some kind of eugenics policy in place” (Arnold). The question was if each country was performing positive or negative eugenic policies. In the early 1900’s, a Hungarian engineer used the term, biotechnology, to symbolize developing products using raw materials. Most people didn’t know the difference between biotechnology and genetic engineering, but the difference is that genetic engineering is more specific, because of the technique of manipulating genes. Biotechnology results in genetic engineering. Furthermore, genetic engineering did not start appearing clearly until the 1970’s. Methods were being used to clone and isolate DNA with the use of restrictive enzymes. In addition, the term “IVF” which stands for In Vitro fertilization, was invented during this time. In-Vitro Fertilization is …show more content…
Selecting specific genes for children will not allow children to be made in their “own” way, and that’s originally how we view biodiversity. Genes are made specifically for one individual without having the chance to pick and choose what might be the best for them. Wynne Parry from Livescience states, "That person and you differ at over 1 million locations in your DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid]. Most [of these variations] don 't do anything" (Parry). There is also controversy with having a new human race between the genetically engineered children and the ones who are not. This limits biodiversity and could be the next great conflict in evolution, between those who are and who aren’t more or less advanced. In addition, while individuals continue to evolve, so do mutations. With the use of genetic engineering, there could be possibilities of more mutations, in addition to the mutations that still need to be fixed today. An increase in mutations can lead to the spread of more and different deadly or non-deadly diseases. Moreover, the use of genetic engineering can also lead to minor and major effects of safety. Paul Arnold from Livescience explains that, “The human genome and our whole bodies are a maze of complicated biological signals, pathways and interrelationships. A positive change upstream could cause a negative effect downstream” (Arnold).
Early eugenics’ goal was to advance and create a human society characterized by “desirable" traits and eliminate “undesirable" traits. In addition, Arnold assures, “In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea of bettering society through science was so widespread that virtually every country around the world had some kind of eugenics policy in place” (Arnold). The question was if each country was performing positive or negative eugenic policies. In the early 1900’s, a Hungarian engineer used the term, biotechnology, to symbolize developing products using raw materials. Most people didn’t know the difference between biotechnology and genetic engineering, but the difference is that genetic engineering is more specific, because of the technique of manipulating genes. Biotechnology results in genetic engineering. Furthermore, genetic engineering did not start appearing clearly until the 1970’s. Methods were being used to clone and isolate DNA with the use of restrictive enzymes. In addition, the term “IVF” which stands for In Vitro fertilization, was invented during this time. In-Vitro Fertilization is …show more content…
Selecting specific genes for children will not allow children to be made in their “own” way, and that’s originally how we view biodiversity. Genes are made specifically for one individual without having the chance to pick and choose what might be the best for them. Wynne Parry from Livescience states, "That person and you differ at over 1 million locations in your DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid]. Most [of these variations] don 't do anything" (Parry). There is also controversy with having a new human race between the genetically engineered children and the ones who are not. This limits biodiversity and could be the next great conflict in evolution, between those who are and who aren’t more or less advanced. In addition, while individuals continue to evolve, so do mutations. With the use of genetic engineering, there could be possibilities of more mutations, in addition to the mutations that still need to be fixed today. An increase in mutations can lead to the spread of more and different deadly or non-deadly diseases. Moreover, the use of genetic engineering can also lead to minor and major effects of safety. Paul Arnold from Livescience explains that, “The human genome and our whole bodies are a maze of complicated biological signals, pathways and interrelationships. A positive change upstream could cause a negative effect downstream” (Arnold).