The Ethics Of Prenatal Genetic Modification Essay examples

The Ethics of Prenatal Genetic Modification Genetic engineering is a method of altering the genetic makeup of an organism with the intention of improving the organism. The technology that is used for this modification is still in its early stages, but was intended to be used in the manufacturing of insulin, various hormones, and antibodies, as well as disease research and gene therapy. This technology is beginning to encroach into reproduction, where it has the potential to be used to prevent certain sex-linked diseases and screen for embryos that are predisposed to certain genetic conditions. Once this technology is integrated into reproductive processes, a door will be opened for parents to have “designer babies,” which is a term that describes when parents select which traits and genes they would like their baby to have, and then the child’s genome is altered before it is born. Traits that have the potential to be altered are ones that have no immediate ties to the child’s medical health include height, hair and eye color, complexion, intelligence, athleticism, musicality, sociability, and countless others. This sort of genetic modification raises a lot of controversy. Operating on the premise that genetic modification of an unborn child’s genome is safe and effective, it is morally permissible for parents to genetically alter their child’s genome to possess modifiable traits. Deontological ethics is one of the main theories of normative ethics and contains concepts…