If you have read dyllis's post introducing DESIGNER BABIES, then I'm sure you would know that designer babies are defined as
"a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by geneticAnd that basically means having to choose the physical and mental attributes that your would-be baby would have.
engineering combined with in-vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or
absence of particular genes or characteristics"
But how different is it from making teddy bear at Build-a-Bear Workshop?
Eventually designer babies would grow up to look like the so-called "customised " teddy bears - all the same.
But that's beside my point.
How did the idea designer babies suddenly come about? Why do people want to create them?
WHY DESINGER BABIES??
Well, allow me to enrich your understanding towards designer babies with a bit of history info snippet.
Back in the 1940s, Adolf Hitler (a notorious 20th century evil man) had wanted to created a perfect Aryan race - a race that consist of the flawless human beings. He planned to achieve this by singling out all those he deemed as "undesirables", the Jews, the handicapped, socially inept citizens who he felt had no place his ideal world, and killed them all!
Yeah yeah, of course now with our advanced technology, we don't have to commit such brutal and vicious acts to produce a race of flawless human beings. (Well, not currently, but we're close!) However, our motivation to modify a human being is very much different from that of Hitler's, not saying that all of them are acceptable and justified reasons.
Returning to the most important question: why designer babies?
1. Ensure that hereditary illnesses are not passed down to younger generations.
Some parents have been spent their life battling diseases that have been passed down from THEIR parents. Examples of such diseases are cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and diabetes. All parents would want the best for their kids, and if they had a choice, they would choose not to let their children suffer from illness caused by the defective genes they have passed down. And now, with the concept of DESIGNER BABIES, they do have a choice!
My take on this reason: It's defnitely an acceptable reason, because these parents just want their children to lead a normal life without the burden of such sufferings, so why not? Some may argue that eliminating all possible genetically transitted disease is not a good solution because there are people in this world "meant to suffer". But I defnitely think that parents have the rights to want the best for their child.
2. To save another life.
Jamie Whitaker. He was a designer child genetically selected to be a near perfectly matched blood stem cell donor for his brother, Charlie who suffers from Diamond-Blackfan Anemia. In such a situation, where there's possibilty of saving a life in exchange for the creation of another, no parent would be able to reject an opportunity to save their own child.
3. To create the "ideal" child
Yes, we're back to where I had first started this post with. That designer baby = perfect baby, whom would all probably look alike seeing the similar perception most people have as the epitome of an unblemished person. You may think that everyone's view of perfect child is the kind who excells in school, who looks the best among their peers, with the most charming smile and twinkling eyes.
3. To create the "ideal" child
Yes, we're back to where I had first started this post with. That designer baby = perfect baby, whom would all probably look alike seeing the similar perception most people have as the epitome of an unblemished person. You may think that everyone's view of perfect child is the kind who excells in school, who looks the best among their peers, with the most charming smile and twinkling eyes.
aww my perfect child :D
But, you may be shocked to realise that there are situations in which parents choose to handicap their child even before they were born! Click here to read more about it. That only goes to show that parents would manipulate anything about their child if they were given a chance to. It goes beyond the mere sex, capabilities or appearance of a child. With this, there would be many more controversial issues regarding one's moral values, religious beliefs and the widely discussed "human rights".
Who gets to decide the fate of a child? Their parents, or themselves?
This, like the HEN-AND-EGG arguement, has been causing a never ending hullabaloo.
And my stand?
I feel that there's no doubt that all parents make choices that they feel would benefit their children in the long run, and this is regardless of what other people feel (e.g. creating a born handicapped child). But that being said, the creation of one's ideal child would not only be unable to solve whatever problems parents are trying to solve, but would also create a huge unrest in earth's ecological balance.
Since the idea of designer babies have yet to be fully developed and accepted legally all over world, I feel that a list of acceptable reasons to choose this option has to be listed out, and one of such a reason would be to cure diseases. The parent's defective gene should be isolated and destroyed and thus the baby would still bear the parents genes, only without the disease-causing one.
That's all I have to share with you on the topic.
I hope I have answered your question as to WHY DESIGNER BABIES.
:) BYEE, I'M LIWEN.
3:48 AM;
