My mom has cancer, my dad has Alzheimer's, so please remove those genes, because I want him to be healthy. My husband has blond hair, and my hair is dark brown, but I want his hair to be blond and he has to have blue eyes like my husband.
Please MTV, you gotta Pimp My Child."
Designer babies is a term that describes a baby whose genetic makeup (genotypes) has been altered by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization. Now what about this sounds like a good idea? Really, has the world gone mad? I love science and discovering new things, but I think that we've gone too far. Altering physical and medical traits of your baby for whatever reason is a too much for me to handle. How does the idea of genetically modifying your child seem right? From the beginning of mankind, the process of reproduction used to be a wonder and something to look in awe and amazement. Childbirth has always been something so great and amazing with its many intricacies that are a part of creating a precious little baby.
When did that become not good enough? Have people become so selfish that they are willing to experiment with this fascinating element of nature. Microsoft's Dictionary tells me that Designer Babies are preselected embryo: a baby preselected at the embryo stage for desirable characteristics . Now this is really mind-boggling because I can't seem to understand why anyone would think that it's okay to design your child.
Would you not love them just the same if they got your husband's brown eyes over your desired blue? OR if they had took your wife's crappy vision and had to get glasses? They're supposed to be your kid and you're supposed to love them whatever the circumstance and nothing else should matter.
Those people who are so desperate to "manifest" the perfect being.. go ahead and spend thousands of dollars.
Of course some people will argue that this is cool and that science has once again found something effective as it helps people remove genetic health threatening genes. Yeah that's all fine and dandy, but do those benefits really outweigh all of the risks of genetically modifying the embryos? Hmm.. When the first designer baby reaches 50 without suffering from any major side effects or birth defects, I'll let you know.
Till then, peace out and KEEP IT REAL. :)
Sources:
http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~cam39380/images/ep317.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_baby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/he/4/43/Pimp_My_Ride_logo.jpg
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
AHAHA. looooved the intro <3. Its sad, but toooo true. How are humans going to go out of their way to blind Mother Nature. I agree 100% with what you are saying. Childbirth is a blessing and a privialledge. NOT a right. Humans are abusing these scientific breakthroughs by trying to make their perfect child. What does this mean? That if your child has brown eyes, bad eyesight, and is short they'll be less loved? This all contributes to the steriotypical lifestyle that we sadly live in. The process of altering genes is just an excuse for humans in an attempt to be closer to perfection. When are we going to realise that there is no such thing, and that we are all equal? I am no superior to someone shorter than me, just as much as someone with long straight hair is superior to me.
ReplyDeleteALWAYS keepin' it real,
Sheereeny
Ahahahha, i am totally loving the beginning too, but as many people have said, this subject is very sad. Not only are we killing poor infants but we're letting scientists get away with these things. Nobody is doing something about it and many people are buying into these stories that designer babies are great but we have the gift of birth. What more would we want? This process is just another excuse to say, "Well my child is perfect and is better than yours," but in my opinion I think that an all original child is more perfect then a plastic and fake one. Yes we know they might be used for transferring organs or bone marrows to a child that is sick but at the same time we are doing bad things to the designer baby. I don't think that we need it all. We can live without this as we have in the last many decades and hundreds of years. Your blog is very well explained and easy to follow also and some funny things have been added. Keep up the good work Raven :)
ReplyDeleteRAVEN! Lovin the PIMP MY CHILD! Wonderful intro.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about this designer babies being taken too far by scientists. I mean, why can't we just appreciate what God has given us? Gheezeee. Who knows there may be some side effects of this experiment. It doesn't really make us HUMANS if we can be altered. We are sort of like... Aliens or some Lab Experiment. Honestly, there is no point of altering your children unless it is DEATH-SERIOUS. Anyway, im gone....
Deuces
Ahahaha... the Pimp My Child thing killed me; it was actually really funny and insanely appropriate. The humorous part needs no explanation but there are actually a couple of reasons it was appropriate. The first being because that's really what PGD is you're "pimping" your child to make it better or to give it a better shot at life. The second reason is because in pimping your child, you're really treating him/her less like a person and more like an object.
ReplyDeleteYou're removing the procreation part from child birth. It's really taking away everything special about reproducing and I agree with you on that point especially. If you think about it part of the magic in baby-making is trial and failure and the waiting to see you beatiful baby girl or boy after months of morning sickness and hours of labor. Should it really matter if she has blue eyes rather than brown? Besides, isn't the point of parenting for you to mess up the child in your own specific way anyways?
Jokes aside, I really like that you took the time to discuss the part love plays in all this. It'd true, you should love your child because they're yours not because they possess certain qualities of you and your partner than you like. It seems insanely narcissistic to love your child because they're a spitting image of you.
But in regards to love, let's take it further. Let's say parents have two kids: one who was born naturally and the other who was genetically diagnosed pre-implantation. Depending on the order in which they were born it seems more likely that parents would give one child more attention than the other either because they are trying to see if their "perfect" child lives up to the expectations and was worth the money or because the normal child seems more interesting because it doesn't possess their qualities.
How's a normal child supposed to compete for attention when parents are busy ensuring their investment was worthwhile in the other child? They simply can't! But let's say the parents suffer buyer's remorse with the PGD child, there's no ninety day return policy with children. The child would have issues for the rest of their natural life, which would unfortunately be really long thanks to their parent's own doing.
Great bioblog Raven! You consider aspects of the spectrum other people don't think of when discussing topics like this. Good job XP
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I LOVE YOUR TITLE!!! "Please MTV, you gotta Pimp My Child" That's hilarious! =D
ReplyDeleteI like how strongly you defend your point. I can tell that you are srongly against designing a baby. I like your blog because it breaks the bias of some people and lets opens their mind to other peoples' opinions. Even though I am for designer babies, reading your blog makes me think twice about my opinion. Keep up the great work!
The title is a great comparison to designer babies. It describes the modification of designer babies to the cars that west coast customs modifies. I agree completely on the parents are the ones who are suppose to love their kids no matter what. They are suppose to accept their kids for who they are as a person not physically but emotionally. We are destroying mankind in so many ways. People shouldnt even be studying on this type of subject. In my perspective, designer babies only advantage is that they could prevent diseases from the baby. Other than that all the other aspects of designer babies is a disadvantage.
ReplyDelete