Transcript Designer Babies

By: Damea: David U
Aya I. Malik F. Emily C
History
 Mid 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 Babies
Definition-A child who’s genotype, and thus physical
characteristics and susceptibility to hereditary disease,
is selected by it’s parents.
Negatives
 The advent of designer babies will effect biodiversity. It will
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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.
Benefits
 Could replace the gene that causes a horrific disease. More intelligent
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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, (preimplantation 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
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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
Future
Parents can pick the eye color, skin color, and the height of their baby.
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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 Issues
 A gene can affect intelligence only in combination with other genes.
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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 Cost
 The 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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ToTheCenter - News."ToTheCenter - News. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.
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Bibliography(continue)
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