If you can alter your pants, why not your children…

Designer babies is a term used to describe a child that was genetically modified to meet the specifications desired by the parent. This is done by the advancements in genetic technology allowing for the alterations of an embryo for either cosmetic or characteristic traits. While this is possible with our current technology, it is not stable to the extent that a person could randomly walk into a shoppers drug mart, take a number, sit down and have someone modify their child like it was a piece of deli waiting to be sliced to their preference. While the ability to genetically modify your child to become whatever you want sounds cool, there are too many conflicts that keep it from being a viable option for someone to choose without having an extreme case. Also, did we not talk about this in my last blog post? Designer fruits and such are scary things!

Test tube baby...creepy (not real baby)

There always seems to be moral conflicts with everything intense

With all things extreme there are extreme controversies that follow. That’s just how it is, due to the nature of an extreme action. Many people have different conflicting views with something like designer babies. The ethical issues flood this topic with a torrent of both religious and humane conflicts. Even animal rights groups have problems with genetic modification. Scientists would perform tests on lab rats and mice first, and when these tests would prove to be successful, they would move on to primates. This is because of their similar genetic make up to humans. Someone who is against animal testing will have a problem with this which would give them a negative mindset on genetic modification. The rights of the fetus also come into question. One may believe that the child should have the right to choose while another may argue that the fetus has not developed enough to have its own conscience to warrant a decision. The extreme nature of these questions forces someone to either side, the grey areas in these types of cases are very thin. Its either you are pro designer babies, or against designer babies. Then again, there may actually be a happy medium.

MMMMmmmm technological developments

While the advancements of science have gone to a far region of “awesome-ness”, the idea of designing children at will is still very far off, but we do have many procedures that are already developed, in which we are able to “alter” a child to a small extent. The process of In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of them. During in vitro fertilization the sperm is injected in the egg outside of the uterus. The embryo would then grow in a test tube or Petri dish. After it is then inserted back into woman’s uterus to develop naturally. In vitro fertilization (IVF) also reduces the risk of the transfer of diseases. Infertility is a big problem amongst couples. 6.1 million Americans are affected by infertility according to a survey taken in 1997. Processes like in vitro fertilization are good options for these couples who suffer infertility problems, even though it is not a natural birth. While this is nowhere near to the point of being able to change the features of the child, some may still argue on the controversies of this procedure. In my opinion, there is no harm in the development of In vitro fertilization (IVF) or procedures like this, the problem is when the thin line of helping infertile people and designing “perfect children” are crossed.

That very thin line “that one -> ---“

There are good things that can come from the advancement of genetically modifying embryos. People who have genetic problems that may transfer it to their children now may have the option to have safe child births due to the genetic modification of the embryo. A genetic disorder is linked with an abnormality in the genes or chromosomes of a person. This is then passed through to the next generation when a child is born. These abnormalities can create problems like diabetes, asthma, obesity and can even be a cause for cancer. If one was to create a designer baby for the purpose of protecting it from such health problems, then there would be nothing wrong. It would save a lot of lives, reduce obesity rates, help people breathe, and overall improve the life of a person who was doomed even before their birth to the high probability of obtaining such disease. The problem is when a person would abuse the procedure of creating designer babies and make something like a supreme soldier in the army, or an over achieving athlete.

Metal Gear!!!

The video game franchise Metal Gear used genetic engineering to create the perfect soldier, and with their success that soldier was able to stop the feared weapon “Metal Gear”from being released into the world and ensuing chaos. This soldier was codenamed “Solid Snake” and he was the genetically modified clone of “Big Boss” who was considered to be “the greatest soldier of the twentieth century”, the only problem was, “Big Boss” was a natural born human, and would eventually die off. The government then decided to clone him and mass produce him to make an invincible army. “Snake”was just a test subject, a very sucessfl one at that. Even though he is considered as a perfect soldier, he is not a perfect human. Because he is a clone that isn’t perfect, he would age faster than a normal human, and because of that, he has an extremely short lifespan. This gives an example of how designer babies today are not perfect. They still have defects, and in the case of “Snake” it was his age. Now let’s apply “Snake” to the real world. Let’s imagine an army of “Metal Gear” stopping super soldiers fighting the current wars in this world. There would be absolute destruction of the side without these soldiers. So a country in poverty would be at an unfair advantage, and would just increase the social gaps of a country with money and without. The country that would be first to develop such fearsome soldiers would have the control of the entire earth. That country would be un-opposable and think of how life would be in a dictatorship world.

Designer babies are kinda scary… I mean look at him

Well ok, maybe not all designer babies will end up looking like him but still, they could! What I’m trying to say is that while designer babies do have good qualities, their potential to be abused is very great, and as well all know, humans are known for abusing things. The thing is that, we have the potential to do great things with genetic engineering. We could save thousands of lives, get rid of diseases and even stop cancer from harming further generations. I guess it really all depends on what kinds of people get their hands on this technology. Let’s just hope that the future is one without an army of eye patch wielding soldiers controlling our planet.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/i/infertility/stats-country.htm

http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/05/designer-babies/

http://media.arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.media/ruliweb_mgs4_05.jpg

http://www.rogue-entomologist.com/media/images/Test_Tube_Baby_640x480.jpg

ohhh humans and their crazy interventions

Ignorance is bliss…?

We as humans have a bigger impact on the environmental than most perceive. How many people actually think about the things they throw away; the resources that they take up; the countless amounts of pollution that we all cause. I believe that most people ignore the fact that our world is deteriorating because in all honestly most of the harsh life threatening effects will not happen until most of us are dead. The harsh climates, the ravenous mountains of trash; did you know that the average person creates 1,600 pounds of trash? Now how do you think this affects the other living creatures around us, around the world? We cannot just ignore this because we do not see it. Our job is a simple one; it is to take care of the world that takes care of all of us. That is just mutual respect; it is simply the humane thing to do.

Issues, issues, issues! ... Funny sounding word by the way

Humans affect the bio diversity of living things in a great fashion. By the quality of our work as stewards we are the ones who decide how our world is, as well as how everything interacts with one another. As an example of how great human intervention is with the rest of the inhabitants of the world is the fact of genetic modification being widely used as a way to alter the imperfections of the natural ways of the world. Whether people notice it or not genetic modification is apparent in many of the foods we eat. Most of the produce that we buy has been genetically altered to become more appealing to the human palate while having a trade off of nutrients for size and quantity. This is so prominent that almost all of the food we eat has been affected by genetic modification one way or another. The agricultural business heavily relies on GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) to keep up with the trends of the consumers. As consumers we want things big and large, and so massively abundant that we do not have to worry about consuming to our somewhat greedy fill. Nobody wants to eat a cow if it is the last cow of the world and no one has any more cows left to eat. I guess we are just nice like that… in a twisted sort of way. Genetic modification has the ability to alter the size of the produce or the live stock it so chooses to, it also can improve on breeding the animal or plant at a faster rate to keep up with demands. Now this sounds like there is nothing wrong with it. Who doesn’t want a stockpile of meat at a very reasonable price? Genetic modification introduces plants and animals into ecosystems that could lead to very devastating effects to the already existing species. There is also a possibility of “super weeds” being a truth as plants become resistant to herbicides which is due to the genetic modification giving them these “super abilities”. Humans are not meant to alter the way nature is, it is not our jobs as stewards. Our job is to take care of the world and not mess with it. Let’s ponder on this for a second: if you were instructed to take care of someone’s house during their absence; would it make much sense to remodel without the owner’s permission just to satisfy the keeper’s needs? Who are we, as humans, to have the right to do such a thing? Do we really want gigantic man eating pumpkins that badly?

Conclusion… That’s a funny word as well

I believe that humans should just live the way nature intended, by living off reasonably sized products. Jokes aside, because we are just stewards of the world, I think that we should reduce our intervention, even one step at a time, because we all agree on the fact that it is not an easy thing to do to support only organic products as well as actions. The price of organic food is considerably higher as it takes much more work to produce as well as having less quantity then genetically modified food. How about everyone reading this blog taking a moment and purchasing an organic carrot and enjoying it with natural flavorings such dirt… or maybe not, salad dressing is fine too I guess.

- Genetically modified food = scared onion…yes he’s an onion…no he’s not genetically modified

Websites used:

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-garbage-does-a-person-create-in-one-year.htm

http://www.africabio.com/pdf/Genetic%20Modification%20and%20Biodiversity.pdf

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-genetic-engineering.html

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