The Dangers Of Designer Babies

You and your spouse decide to have a baby. Now, picture this: you go to a clinic, and you are given a set of options.  For example: 

● Would you like a girl with green eyes and who is likely to be a talented artist but has a high risk of developing lupus as an adult?

● Or, would you maybe prefer a boy with dark hair and a high chance of being athletic, while also being predisposed to type 2 diabetes and glaucoma? 

● How about a tall boy who has a gift for foreign languages, but who is more than likely to suffer from schizophrenia as an adult?

If you feel confused, just wait, this is only the beginning. There are more than 200 options and combinations from which to choose. 

Parents-to-be will be able to play with their future child's DNA and basically design their baby. 

Scientists have predicted that designer babies could become a reality within 20 years, and the potential consequences are truly frightening. 

If you aren't up to date with the most recent scientific wonders, here is an explanation. 

In short, designer babies' DNA is shaped by gene editing. Such babies are created through a genetic modification process or genetic screening. The DNA is modified with the help of technology, and the transfer of genes is also included.

So, once you choose your desired combination of genes and personal traits for your baby, they will implant the embryo. This might seem a reasonable option for couples who know they carry genes for certain illnesses, and thus could select an embryo without that gene but, is this really how we want to reproduce? 

Scientists have shown that, in mice, they can turn ordinary cells into eggs and sperm. It's too early to know if that can be done with human cells as well. But when, and if it should happen, it would change everything we know about reproduction. 

This would mean that even people who aren't able to produce eggs or sperm could experience genetic parenthood. 

Nowadays, with in-vitro fertilization, approximately 8 eggs are collected per trial. But this new method could provide a couple with more than 100 actual embryos from which they could analyze the DNA in those embryos in order to discover probable diseases and personal characteristics. 

Here is what those who wish to have designer babies usually want to control and modify:

● Gender 

● Looks 

● Chances of getting sick with a particular illness

● Overall personality 

● Levels of intelligence

So, think about this: although it's natural that you want your baby to be healthy and well, is it really necessary to choose your baby's hair color, personality, or level of intelligence? Is this what parenthood has come down to?

Creating a designer baby basically means changing a person's life and mind without their permission. You may say, 'well, even with the normal birth process, babies have no say in these physical results'.  That is true, but the normal birth process is God ordained. 

With the 'designer' process, you choose to modify your baby's emotional, mental, and physical structure to suit your personal desires, just because you feel like it.

For those who recognize that life begins at conception, the greater question is: what is to become of those embryos that are rejected? Must we now coin new terminology, e.g. anticipatory abortion or abortion before the fact?

Or, consider how scientists might use your unused embryos for scientific experiments, and not treat them like human beings. Who knows what horrors may take place within the confines of 'Dr. Frankenstein's' laboratory.  

Every gene in our body has a purpose, and removing some while keeping others may result in errors which can be hard to predict and tricky to manage in the future. 

If designer babies become a trend, we could easily find ourselves living in a hostile environment. Just picture a divided world in which designer babies feel and act superior to those whose genes were not 'edited'. 

Ask yourself if this is the world you want to live in. Is this the world you want your children to live in? Have we become so hungry for control that we are willing to alter our future children's DNA and select their personalities? Have we crossed the line?